Over the last decades, the business world has redefined itself in an accelerated way. Today, more than ever before, entrepreneurs must quickly change the way they do business to keep pace and stay relevant to their customers.

Companies that resist change and have not followed suit unfortunately have paid the price.

88% of Fortune 500 companies in 1955 are no longer around today.

At that time, the life expectancy of a company was 60 years. It is now reduced to 20 years.

So, the question arises: what is the cost of doing nothing when it comes to your IT?

Some examples of revolutionary companies

Think Netflix, Airbnb or Uber, these companies have literally revolutionized their industry.

Netflix reinvented the entire television and film industry. Although its beginnings may seem a little erratic, Netflix had a vision and worked to achieved it.

The Airbnb platform, meanwhile, was born in the cloud. Despite millions of bookings a year, there are only five people in its IT department.

For its part, Uber has caused quite an upheaval in an ossified taxi industry that was firmly anchored in the past.

Any organization that refuses to innovate puts itself at risk and no industry is immune. Companies must accept innovation and change their business model. To continue to succeed, they must demonstrate their value in the current market.

Part of the solution for making this shift is the adoption of the cloud.

Four aspects of the new business model to adopt

1. Differentiate your organization by freeing up your internal resources

By freeing up your technical resources, the cloud lets you focus on what's important to your business - improving the customer experience and driving business results.

A migration to the cloud is an evolving business model. There may now be positions that no longer add value to your business. Rather than keeping these existing posts, free up your resources. Have them work on new initiatives for your organization.

They will become much more profitable. The best people to come up with innovative ideas and solutions to improve the customer experience are already on your team. Get them involved, make them part of the overall solution.

2. Innovate by maintaining a startup mentality

Startups use ingenuity to stand out. They take risks and take nothing for granted. They are, most of the time, well aware of new technologies.

This is the mentality to adopt. With the agility and scalability benefits it offers, the cloud allows you to innovate like a startup. The only limit to innovation is your creativity.

Too much bureaucracy prevents organizations from moving forward, while adopting a startup culture allows companies to renew themselves constantly. Amazon is a very good example: despite its some 600,000 employees, it does not sit on its laurels. It is always looking for ways to reinvent itself.

3. Migrate on your terms

There are different approaches to migrating to the cloud. There is definitely a model that will work better for your business. These models allow you to migrate at your own pace for a smooth transition.

There is one caveat: if your pace is too slow and the industry or your competitors move too fast, you are at risk. A partner such as Present can help you speed up the process so that you stay in the race, without forcing the transition.

4. Reduce your risks

If we go back to the 1990s, two alternatives were available to businesses: move quickly or remain cautious. Today, you do not have the luxury of choosing between the two, and the cloud allows you to do both at the same time.

Some people still have doubts about the security of cloud computing. We must accept that the cloud is extremely safe. Your data is encrypted and you keep control.

Cloud service providers like Amazon Web Service allocate huge resources to ensure security, compliance, and availability, and therefore reduce the risk of IT failures. It is a safe bet to say that these resources are much larger than those deployed by your company.

Remember

Encourage innovation in your business!

The cost of inaction is particularly high in organizations that:

• do not recognize the reality of the digital economy
• do not base their decisions on relevant information
• focus on reducing costs to the detriment of improved performance

The cost of doing nothing is too high: being overtaken by companies that have understood the reality of today or worse, outright disappearing.

Even the oldest industries, such as the agricultural sector, are renewing themselves and adopting the digital shift. If you are resistant to change and refuse to take this path, you will inevitably be part of the 88% of disappearing businesses.

Move, before it's too late and talk to a Present advisor today.