When the world began to digitise, it also changed the way we produce and meet real needs. As an example, I remember when I was a child, for fun in the neighbourhood, setting up a lemonade stand on the street. At first it was easy, as the neighbours came by and it was simple to manage.
The problem arose when word got around and all my neighbours started coming, and, as luck would have it, the fridge at home broke down and I had to go two weeks without being able to fix it. It was already 15 years old… It was bound to happen someday, and it happened just when I needed it most.
This example, which is easy to visualise, encompasses the main problems we encounter when maintaining our business ‘locally’. Obsolete equipment where we devote time and (human) resources to solving possible breakdowns; situations where our infrastructure is unable to adapt to demand and physical and resource limitations that make me less competitive. This is solved with Cloud Computing.
Why is it important for us to understand cloud computing?
It seems that data ‘floats in the clouds’ when in reality it is optimised server infrastructure, usually hosted in a data centre[IP3]. It is a reality that affects us in our daily lives, where (often without knowing it) we consume all kinds of services hosted on these ‘cloud’ servers. Online video games, music platforms, or streaming services that we use every day… Our digital actions and data move through the Internet, transmitted via fibre optics to these large server warehouses.
Therefore, understanding how this digital world works helps us to put information into perspective and get the most out of it, as well as understand the risks and opportunities that arise from this model.
What are the benefits?
I already mentioned them in the example of my lemonade stand. If we have staff dedicated to repairing the refrigerator, or if it does not have enough capacity to store all the lemons my customers demand, we are not taking advantage of the real business opportunity.
The cloud world offers us:
- We can delegate infrastructure maintenance tasks without having to worry about patches, upgrades, and reducing maintenance costs. We would have access to all the refrigerators in the neighbourhood, in other cities and around the world. So I wouldn’t have a space problem, and if one breaks down, I still have access to hundreds of thousands of refrigerators, which are also the latest model.
- We can increase or reduce resources according to business needs. If one day I make a lot of lemonade and use a lot of refrigerators, I pay more and meet the demand. If one day I don’t make lemonade, I don’t pay. This scalability means adapting to demand and optimising costs.
- Access from almost anywhere. Imagine if you could sell lemonade from anywhere in the world [IP4] and be connected to anywhere else on the globe. You’re no longer limited to your neighbours in the neighbourhood, but you can be cooking from another country and using fridges that are physically there. That way, I won’t have to take my stall, take it to another city, set it up and use my fridge from home there.
What phases or stages does this process involve?
Despite its complexity, we could divide this process into three main phases in which Telefónica helps its customers:
- The first consists of understanding the status quo of the client company. Listening to its evolution to the current situation so that we can advise the technology partner from an agnostic position and indicate the best roadmap to follow.
- The second phase is not just about taking off, but about avoiding turbulence during the journey, so that a smooth landing that suits the client can be achieved. In the past, I shared an article about the landing zone and the importance of designing and deploying one that suits the client’s day-to-day needs.
- The third is to get down to work. Using our own resources and our expert profiles, we carry out a migration and transition to the cloud, offering all types of architectures that best suit the client:
- such as a complete migration to a public cloud, developing a hybrid format where part of the load remains on-premise and the rest is moved to the cloud or a sovereign cloud, which facilitates [IP6] data security and legal protection.
What do organisations or companies that do not carry out this process face?
Organisations face a series of limitations and risks that, in the current context, can slow down their growth or even put them at a disadvantage compared to their competitors. In addition, migrating to the cloud requires careful analysis to avoid turbulence along the way or a bad landing that damages the experience, as with any flight.
Lack of knowledge about technological advances means not knowing which path to choose or which cloud to go to, as each hyperscale provider has its own cloud, and that is where an agnostic partner such as Telefónica is the best ally. Our experience, having migrated hundreds of public and private entities, is that you need to have a certain amount of know-how to help during that transition. A pilot who has just started out is not the same as one who has been flying for more than 10 years.
What arguments can be used to convince those who may be reluctant?
At all times, the focus should not be on selling, but on helping and actively listening. In this era of misinformation and propaganda overload, it is key to use tangible reality. Therefore, the arguments to be put forward are based on three pillars:
- Cost savings. As Elli Goldratt mentions in his book ‘The Goal’, every company’s goal is to make money. Maximising and optimising our costs, which have been dragging on with obsolete and scattered infrastructure, helps business cases to be profitable in the medium/long term in most cases.
- Security and robustness. Rather than dedicating resources to maintenance and support tasks, it would be advisable to delegate these tasks to experts in this technology, helping to maintain a robust infrastructure and avoiding potential security breaches, which are so important in today’s data economy.
- Growth and scalability. An infrastructure, such as a local lemonade stand, has maximum dimensions in terms of scope and reach. With the cloud, you can more easily explore how to expand your lines of business and increase your reach.
How does the ‘journey to the cloud’ relate to the digital divide? Does it close it or widen it?
Being able to benefit from the same platforms and solutions from different parts of the world also helps to foster a learning and collaborative environment. This ecosystem encourages innovation and entrepreneurship in a world where technology and digitalisation permeate every corner of the planet.
All this has led to some digital divides being closed and others opening up, as the digital ecosystem has grown exponentially, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence. Given the complexity of the global network that underpins this technological system, there is greater demand for technical profiles with expertise in migration and technological knowledge of the latest developments, among other things.
It is therefore necessary to keep pace with these advances through training, thus preventing the digital world from creating other gaps. We may be able to close some of the gaps in the short term, but if we do not keep pace with society and help to train and encourage it in the digital world, we may be creating other, larger gaps in the shadows.
