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Guest blogger Charles Araujo, Principal Analyst of Intellyx, discusses the best strategies for moving from a traditional on-premises delivery model to a cloud- based, Software-as-a-Service platform.
2. THE SECRETS TO WINNING THE CLOUD GAME
The Secrets to Winning the Cloud Game
Moving from a traditional on-premises delivery model to a cloud-
based, Software-as-a-Service strategy is a high-stakes, bet-the-
company game for independent software vendors
— these are the secrets to winning it all
3. It’s a High Stakes Game, So Be at the Table
Here’s the most important thing to know as you
saddle up to the table: from here on out there is
no such thing as a purely technical decision.
THE SECRETS TO WINNING THE CLOUD GAME
4. THE SECRETS TO WINNING THE CLOUD GAME
If you don’t want to lose it all on the first hand, you
need to understand how to play this game.
New SaaS business model impacts:
++ Your revenue stream to your architectural
complexity
++ How you approach customer retention and
satisfaction
This Game is Played by a Different Set of Rules
5. EBOOK
CLOUD GAME
To be competitive in the SaaS world, you need:
++ To build an entirely new business model
§§ That means a fundamental shift in
your revenue and profit stream
++ To invest heavily in an entirely new
infrastructure to support your new business
model
That’s quite a double-down bet: less cash up front
and a greater capital outlay to fund your new
infrastructure.
You’re Going All In
6. You need to put all your cards together to
build a winning hand:
++ Application
++ Database
++ Infrastructure
You can’t win by focusing on any single card.
Mastering the Secrets to a Winning Hand
THE SECRETS TO WINNING THE CLOUD GAME
7. THE SECRETS TO WINNING THE CLOUD GAME
Your Ace in the Hole: Agility
When you make the move from on-premises
to SaaS: customer expectations change
Now the customer wants to:
++ Move faster
++ Change more quickly
++ Leverage your product to create their
own agility
To meet this demand, you need to design
your product architecture with agility in mind
– yours and your customers.
8. THE SECRETS TO WINNING THE CLOUD GAME
Keeping up with your competition is great.
But let’s call a spade a spade: you need to do
more than just keep up — you need to beat
your competitors to the punch.
As you move to the cloud, your ability to
deliver faster — not just your first cloud
release, but every release thereafter — will
make you the ruler of the game.
The King: Time to Market
9. THE SECRETS TO WINNING THE CLOUD GAME
This game isn’t all about speed.
Agility and time to market won’t matter if
you don’t delight your customers.
In this game, retention is the queen in your
hand — and the queen favors those who
keep her subjects happy.
The Queen Smiles Favorably
When Her Customers are Happy
10. THE SECRETS TO WINNING THE CLOUD GAME
In a cloud-driven world, nothing is certain,
and change is the only constant.
You need to:
++ Have flexible deployment options
++ Mix operational and analytical
transactions
++ Leverage different infrastructure
elements
Flexibility is what makes the other cards work.
But it’s not automatic. You need to plan for it
and protect it.
The “Jack of All Trades”
11. THE SECRETS TO WINNING THE CLOUD GAME
Pay attention to the numbers:
++ Invest in an infrastructure that can grow
when your revenue grows
++ Consistently lowering your cost of both
ownership and operation
Ensuring that you’re placing bets that will give
you the greatest flexibility in the future.
Numbers Still Count
12. Using a database like NuoDB,
designed specifically for this
purpose, is the only way to
deliver these capabilities.
It’s the Royal Flush you need to
win the game.
To compete in the cloud-driven,
SaaS world, you need:
++ Agility
++ Rapid time-to-market
++ High customer retention rates
++ Flexibility
++ Cost-effectiveness
Your Royal Flush
THE SECRETS TO WINNING THE CLOUD GAME