Published on the 05/08/2015 | Written by Donovan Jackson
The first fifth is the hardest, says partner operations veep…
That the Australian Bureau of Statistics puts the use of cloud computing at just 19 percent for businesses with an internet connection doesn’t come as any particular surprise to SAP ANZ partner operations VP and GM Greg Miller. Instead, the low figure likely heralds steep growth for the coming months, particularly as major government departments move into the cloud.
“What we’re seeing in the ERP space is indicative of what’s happening elsewhere: there is an increasing move to services rather than onsite deployments,” he said.
That observation dovetails rather neatly with Zuora founder Tien Tzuo’s recent comments to iStart.
But just 19 percent cloud penetration in Australia? Miller agreed that the first fifth is undoubtedly the hardest part of the market to reach; however, these early movers are breaking the ice for all which will follow by proving (or, indeed, disproving) the claimed advantages of software as a service.
“That’s a relatively low base off of which we should soon be seeing triple digit growth. There’s heaps of headroom for it and, with [Australian Department of] immigration moving to [SAP’s cloud human capital management software] SuccessFactors after spending ten years fighting the security, the security thing is off the table,” said Miller.
He added, “The 19% says there are customers who are talking about it.”
Miller drew attention to SAP’s recently published study on the ‘digital experience gap’, which shows considerable dissatisfaction with 34 leading Australian brands. “Looking at the numbers, we are behind [in cloud adoption] and there is huge potential. Consumers and business people’s expectations from the digital experience are not being met.”
The answer to that, he posted, is to drive further digitisation with a focus on user experience. “People are sucking up the user experience. Software and digital engagement with service providers has to be more appealing and easier to use; people expect things to be as easy and familiar to use as Facebook or Google.”
