One of the most noticeable trends in the technology ecosystem in recent years is the growth in industry cloud adoption.
According to a Gartner survey of enterprises, a majority of respondents (55%) have either adopted or piloting industry cloud, with a further 15% saying there are considering embracing industry cloud by 2026.
What is industry cloud?
Industry clouds are one of the latest innovations that are on course to boost cloud deployment and offer great value to a wide range of industries. In a nutshell, industry clouds are the combination of cloud-related services, applications and tools with industry-specific workflows, APIs and other customised products.
The cloud platforms are often tailored and preconfigured to specific industries like healthcare, finance, manufacturing, retail. They are designed to address the unique requirements of these industries, including compliance with industry-specific regulations or the need for specialised services and capabilities.
Industry clouds are often built on top of public cloud infrastructure such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform, but they include additional features and services that are specific to a particular industry. A healthcare industry cloud, for example, may include electronic medical record systems, while a financial industry cloud might feature trading platforms and risk management tools.
Why is industry cloud adoption growing?
There is no single driver of the increasing interest in industry cloud, with a number of factors playing a role in the success of industry cloud.
A major attraction of industry cloud are the large numbers of vendors that offer extremely tailored, sector-specific tools and pre-created processes, which provide a great deal of value to firms. The almost overnight shift to digital during the pandemic for many companies made undertaking a comprehensive digital transformation plan an urgent need.
In practice, industry clouds have been completely customised for different industries and even sub-sectors, unlike conventional public clouds where services need to be added on. In industries like banking and finance or healthcare, where there are many compliance and regulatory requirements, selecting a industry cloud can save a lot of time and resources, as they already offer pre-built services for their industry.
Typically, industry cloud platforms are seen as cost-effective, giving greater reason to adopt these solutions, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. Significant expenses like building and maintaining the infrastructure can be avoided, as industry cloud is built on public cloud where companies can pay only for the resources they actually use.
Additionally, with this public cloud infrastructure, users can quickly scale up or down their resources without investing in new hardware or additional staff. The benefit of this enables businesses to be more agile in a rapidly changing digital world.
Security, too, can often be enhanced by moving to an industry cloud. The standardised infrastructure provided by industry clouds helps ensure that the right level of cyber protections and security are used. Thanks to these benefits, it’s not hard to see why industry clouds are attracting new companies to make the switch.
When a business has shifted to an industry cloud they can also benefit from the break-down of corporate silos, which can help improve innovation. The latest industry-specific tools and features can be accessed through an industry cloud platform, giving companies the ability to quickly pivot during period of intense change or to overcome challenges.
We can expect to see even more companies turning to industry cloud solutions in the coming year to remain competitive and flexible.
