What's the difference between the terms "on demand," "in the cloud" and "software as a service"? Mike Joseph, director of business development with LeanLogistics, provides the answers.
In 2004, Sun Microsystems revealed a radical plan to shake up the computing industry. It would build a series of large data centers and sell access to the computers inside them for $1 per hour.
Today's supply chains form the arteries and veins that keep global trade alive, connecting a largely borderless, always-on world economy. New innovations offer disruptive possibilities for the future of global trade. It's easy to hypothesize that Star Trek-style teleportation, drones, 3-D printing, and space logistics, will change trading. But the biggest shift to the supply chain will see it digitally connected and becoming part of the Internet of Things.
The transition to "cloud also" or "cloud first" is well under way for manufacturers around the globe, according to survey results from International Data Corporation. In fact, in the United States, 41 percent of manufacturing respondents indicated they are accessing IT resources via the public cloud, based on the IDC Global Technology and Industry Research Organization IT Survey, 2014.
Analyst Insight: The market's understanding of cloud solutions is maturing. We are steadily - and correctly - moving away from what the cloud is to focus on what it can mean for our businesses. For many, what it means now is an opportunity to reduce capital expenditures and free up IT resources. This will change as we look less at whether cloud solutions can do the same things as on-premises and focus on what they can do differently. - Scott Pezza, Principal Analyst at Blue Hill Research
For all its promise of lower cost and easier management of software applications, cloud technology has yet to be fully embraced by supply chain managers.