Advantage ‘Real Cloud’
At ComplianceQuest, we’ve built an EQMS on the Salesforce.com platform, with a clear belief that next-generation digital transformation will happen through software products that are built on the #RealCloud.
So, what is ‘Real Cloud’? A Real Cloud solution is a software product that has been built from the ground up for cloud. Important to note here is that – it is not a modified version of an on-premise solution that has been ‘cloud washed’ and rejigged for the cloud.
The benefits of a Real Cloud-based solution are absolutely clear.
- Ease of Product Upgrades: In the ‘Real Cloud’, there is only ONE VERSION of the product. Upgrades are done in sync for all users, across companies, geographies and multiple locations. This ensures that everything from security upgrades to bug fixes are done for all users at the same time.
- Customizable: While the software is architected in such a way that there is only one version of the platform, a real cloud solution is flexible and easy to customize. A ‘multi-tenancy’ architecture allows for a variety of customizations, on top of a single platform. Even within the same company, different users can customize and personalize the product with ease. (For example: a global company may want the software in multiple languages.)
- Visibility: A real cloud-based solution allows for extremely high levels of data visibility, not only within the company but across customer and supplier modules as well. Data visibility across the entire lifecycle way easier to build in the case of a real cloud solution.
- Ease of Integration: Have you tried integrating on-premise or fake cloud-based solutions with other software products? It can be a nightmare, thanks to a variety of integration issues. In the case of a real cloud-based platform ease of integration through APIs is a cakewalk. At CQ, we’ve integrated our solution with numerous ERPs, CRMs and Inventory Control products, and it would have been extremely difficult if we hadn’t built on a real cloud platform like Salesforce.
- High levels of Security: We often talk about how a ‘real cloud’ platform also doubles up as a ‘secure cloud’ one. Just like how bug fixes are pushed to all users in one go, security patches and upgrades are simple and done in one go. Defence mechanisms are easy to build into the architecture when designed from the ground up for the cloud. People often believe that using a reputed on-demand cloud computing platform makes the product automatically secure. Unfortunately, that is totally not true, and a product’s design and architecture are crucial for high-levels of security. And, this requires constant upgrades. You ‘design for security’ from the ground up, but constant upgrades are the norm and this is easier in a real cloud-based platform.
Broadly, in the current software product landscape real cloud-based solutions have become the norm. As listed above, the advantages listed above have become critical features of all good products.
In the next blog as part of this series, we dig deeper into the concept of ‘fake clouds’ and ‘cloud washing’, bring to the fore some of its inherent disadvantages.
