In today’s Private Markets, cloud is how successful companies run their technology environments. Although the direction of travel is clear, many companies are still struggling to fully adopt cloud and haven't quite worked out where the real business value lies.
In the second part of our research, ‘Winning in the Ecosystem Economy’, we take a closer look at the role cloud technology plays in private markets. We explore the current challenges that companies are facing and identify the reasons why many of them are struggling to derive impact and return on investment from this technology.
Connecting Cloud to Core Operations:
Many GP’s have carried out an initial proof of concept, a use case here or there. This initial use case or new software contract usually has a large fixed cost and is prohibitively expensive. However, they struggle to define and implement a full set of use cases across their core operations, as they do not have the internal skillset or resources to do so. Connecting core operations to the cloud allows engineers and developers to drive value at scale, allowing for automation. Surely, that’s what the cloud is built for?
Connecting the Built Environment:
In Private Equity Real Estate, we pride ourselves on the built environment. Yet, companies that invest heavily in building cloud foundations fail to define and apply the appropriate framework across their platform companies. Building the appropriate foundations makes things easier, more efficient, flexible and scalable; however, attempting to build multiple foundations across the built environment (multiple platform companies) increases complexity and increases the cost of the cloud by 2 to 3 times over. Get this wrong, and it’s going to be a costly, timely mistake.
Technology Sprawl:
Fifteen years ago, when companies started their cloud journey, they usually began with one provider, one server and one application. But today, we have an abundance of tools and platforms available to support every step of the investment journey. Cloud is a superior way to host applications, and what could be more appealing than implementing big-ticket software? However, it's important to evaluate and retire services that we no longer use. Failure to do so can lead to Technology sprawl, which can have a severe impact on the balance sheet. If not managed correctly, companies will miss out on a significant chunk of ROI opportunity.
Innovation, agility, and scalability is the hardest business case to make; this usually comes from the income statement or different parts of the organisation. However, by implementing a coherent cloud strategy across core operations, your company can change the ROI dynamics now and into the future.
If you want to generate ROI from technology and understand the true value of cloud, speak to our team today.