Leveling the Playing Field for the Startup and SMB

Cloud Computing is the number one strategic issue for enterprise organizations today (Gartner). However, it presents a new advantage for the Startup and Small and Medium Business (SMB) to level the playing field.

Today, startups find it challenging to raise capital to purchase hardware to run their application or service. The same is true for a SMB organization. However, there are alternatives. Now, a startup or SMB can sign up for services and only pay for what they consume.

Prior to cloud computing, companies faced a significant hurdle in terms of capital costs when starting up an operation. That hurdle still exists for those running their own operations today. However, with cloud computing, the hurdle is lowered…and in some cases eliminated.

It is now possible for a startup or SMB to run an IT operation without owning their own data center or servers. This creates a significant advantage compared with the traditional enterprise.

Not only does it prevent the need to invest capital in data centers and equipment, It presents an advantage in terms of geography, responsiveness and flexibility. Organizations can setup operations closer to their customers regardless of where their physical offices are. And, they’re able to scale with demand in a timely fashion.

Startups and SMB organization have one other advantage over enterprise organizations. They are typically not challenged by internal cultural norms or inertia. This further advances the startup or SMB organization to compete more equitably on a global level.