— As cloud adoption becomes increasingly popular, five industries are customizing clouds to their specific needs.

August 1, 2019 Author: Macy Bayern

Translation: Taiyue Cloud Business

Reposted from: ZDNet

Over the past few years, the movement of data to the cloud has grown explosively, with cloud giants like AWS, Microsoft, and Google sweeping across enterprises. A recent report from Canalys shows that the global cloud infrastructure services market grew 42% year-over-year in Q1 2019.

Andrew Bartels, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, said: "When we use the word 'cloud,' when our customers use the word 'cloud,' they're usually thinking in at least three different dimensions or directions."

Bartels explained that these dimensions include replacing on-premises applications with SaaS models or individual hosted applications, cloud middleware, and cloud infrastructure, where cloud providers can access computing and storage resources.

However, since public cloud solutions aren't a one-size-fits-all solution for every industry, vertically specific cloud solutions are emerging. These vertical cloud solutions, also known as "industry clouds," are experiencing significant growth.

The reasons are obvious. Ed Anderson, Research Vice President and Distinguished Analyst at Gartner, said that cloud applications developed for specific industries are cheaper and more efficient compared to other on-premises or general-purpose cloud computing.

"(Cloud computing) is about data center consolidation and efficiency," Anderson said. "It's about moving applications to the cloud where I can pay for cloud service consumption, which is cheaper than trying to do everything myself." Some of this overhead comes in the form of the physical environment for running your own applications. You can outsource the management of these systems to the cloud. Sometimes it's about staying current, having the latest features, and these features are moving to the cloud."

Industry clouds are almost inevitable for many industries, especially those using legacy vendors, Bartels added. To keep up with the changing business technology environment, many legacy vendors are pushing organizations to move from old systems to more cloud-like systems.

Here are the five industries with the largest investments in industry cloud solutions.

1. Manufacturing

According to Forrester Research data, among North American manufacturing enterprises, the majority (84%) of global procurement influencers confirmed that increasing cloud computing usage in the coming year is a moderate, high, or critical priority.

Bartels said most on-premises technology first appeared in manufacturing. However, with the rise of industrial clouds, core manufacturing transactions are moving to the cloud. These core transactions include "systems for running factory production lines, handling the inflow of parts and materials into production... and the supply of finished products that enter the system for delivery or sale to customers," Bartels added.

With automation expected to take over manufacturing by 2024, digital transformation in this field is ripe.

2. Retail

Anderson said vertical cloud solutions have also achieved great success in retail, largely thanks to the massive amount of data generated by the industry.

Forrester Research determined that approximately 77% of global procurement influencers in North American retail organizations consider cloud computing usage to be a moderate, important, or critical priority in the coming year. With such large amounts of data, retailers need to scale up data storage, collection, and organization practices.

Bartels said industrial clouds have had a huge impact on core retail management systems, especially around the cycle of goods and inventory.

"These systems help manage the inflow and outflow of goods that retailers have, and how these inflows and outflows go through their own warehouse inventory allocation systems, rather than through trucks, stores, or inventory just sold," Bartels continued. "These systems track these inventory levels, ensuring a steady flow of goods coming in to replace goods flowing to customers."

Anderson noted that cloud technology can also help track the performance of various retail stores and direct sales outlets based on any factors the company needs, thereby improving efficiency, sales, and customer satisfaction.

3. Government

Anderson said that perhaps the most prominent industry cloud is in the government sector.

"You mainly see this in North America, but there are other examples in other countries, where you either have hyperscale providers offering specific government versions of the cloud, or national providers offering some form of government or country-specific cloud," Anderson said.

These clouds help reduce workload isolation, working as a closed community, which guarantees that no confidential data leaves the country. Anderson said users need specific permissions from the government to host workloads on government clouds.

4. Healthcare

Another hotspot for data management and storage appears in healthcare. According to Forrester Research, in North America, 74% of healthcare global procurement influencers said demand for cloud computing is a moderate, high, or critical priority in the coming year.

Healthcare industry clouds provide a central, secure place to store information, which is crucial in an industry that stores many personal records.

Anderson said cloud computing can also help healthcare professionals understand patients by tracking and preserving data about patient care, behavior, and health progress. He added that with this information, health professionals can view success rates and related scenarios, certain drug reactions, and other insights.

5. Agriculture

The agriculture sector has achieved great success in innovation, with the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data helping farmers learn more about their environment and crop production. These technologies, combined with industrial clouds, can provide extremely powerful insights for farms and agricultural giants.

"In the IoT + cloud scenario, you'll see (agricultural) manufacturing really leveraging cloud capabilities," Anderson said. "Anywhere you can place sensors, you can capture information about the surrounding environment—soil sensors, machine sensors, seed or grain sensors, sensors around animals—the cloud can help you process this information."