Post Recession need for efficiency led to PC, Internet & now Cloud Computing

The whole world is talking about Cloud Computing, and how it will be the next big thing. But KPMG’s report The Cloud - Changing the Business Ecosystem gave an interesting twist to the reason why the organization expect Cloud Computing to be big, and it makes complete sense.

We have to agree with the fact that recessions force organizations to improve their business efficiency and increase profitability. And if you really look closely, you will notice that organizations as well as individual users have adopted IT in its various forms to tide through the recessionary phase as well as ‘improve their business efficiency and increase profitability’. 

The 1980s recession was instrumental for the rapid growth of Personal Computers as organizations started looking for ways to cut cost and increase profits. As per KPMG, ‘the number of PCs installed grew from less than 1 million in 1980 to 1 over 100 million by the end of the decade’.

The destabilizing recession in the first half of the 1990s closed down many businesses. As organizations searched for avenues to survive and grow, they ended up adopting Client Server Architecture and the internet in a large way. In fact, at the decade start there were only a few thousand users of the internet; but by the decade end, the users were more than 300 million.

Can we forget the recent economic downturn that crippled so many organizations? It was so bad that a large majority of the population was without a job for a long period of time. Things have improved to a large extent but the businesses are still trying to make money and sustain themselves. Hence, they are looking for ways to improve efficiencies by using collaborative solutions and real time information exchange. And that’s basically the reason for the Cloud to gain prominence. Just as KPMG pointed out, ‘The promise of the Cloud possibly lies in the flexibility, scalability and cost benefits made available through the ‘as-a-service’ paradigm’.

I fully agree with KMPG’s viewpoint and also believe that Cloud Computing is definitely the next big thing. But I would like to know your thoughts on the following:

• Do you believe that the after recession necessity for improving business efficiency and increasing profitability was instrumental for the success of the PC and Internet?

• Do you think that Cloud Computing can become as popular as Internet and PC?