Businesses have continued to look for innovative ways to improve how they collaborate, and cloud computing and devices like smartphones and tablets are considered some of the most effective solutions. CFO Research recently conducted a survey of chief financial officers and found that a majority of participants believe the cloud and mobility are key to their organizations' success.
Of the CFOs surveyed, 89 percent said mobility will be vital to their businesses in the next three years, while 75 percent answered in this fashion regarding cloud computing. The main reasons companies are looking to the cloud are to improve customer experiences, support business growth and develop systems that fit certain requirements as they expand.
The survey noted that the cloud's scalability is ideal for small businesses looking to pay for services they actually use, rather than fork over large sums for on-premise hardware. This agility is also beneficial for larger corporations.
A key attraction of mobility is that it allows organizations to conduct business regardless of location.
"A finance executive from an Asian bank insisted that competitive advantage in the future will be driven not so much by product innovations as by technology – technology that can change the life of the customer or the way a company itself does business," the CFO survey explained. "In large part, these changes will come from creating the so-called mobile society – placing information directly in the hands of customers, suppliers and co-workers alike, wherever they happen to be."
Companies view cloud, mobility as crucial technologies
In a separate survey conducted by IT nonprofit CompTIA, businesses were polled to gauge their interest in unified communications, which is expected to be impacted by the cloud, mobility and social platforms moving forward. Of those surveyed, 80 percent said their organizations believe UC is valuable to their operations.
Another 85 percent of companies said they expect to invest in collaboration and communications to keep pace with competitors.
CompTIA technology analysis director Seth Robinson explained that cloud computing is expected to play a key role in helping businesses communicate more effectively.
"What we're most likely to see is a hybrid approach in many organizations, using the cloud for collaboration and web conferencing, and on-premise infrastructure for data, voice and video," Robinson said.