Pinoys ‘adapt well’ to cloud computing

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

FILIPINOS are not just social media- savvy, they are also the most accepting of the concept of cloud computing, said an official of a cloud-based service provider.

Mark Troselj, managing director of NetSuite Asia Pacific, said Philippine businesses are adapting to cloud technology “very well.”

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He said that since last year there have been more businesses subscribing to NetSuite enterprise resource planning solutions.

He added that many companies, whether they were large or small-scale were adopting cloud technology for the first time.

He believes their presence in the country and working with solid companies like Jollibee and the Yuchengco Group make smaller companies confident about using cloud technology to improve their businesses.

“Our biggest challenge is getting them (business owners) to make that first call,” Troselj told reporters yesterday.

Chris Gamboa of the IT Group said the biggest challenge is convincing the older generation of entrepreneurs that the technology is safe and reliable. Most are apprehensive to know that their data will be stored in servers halfway across the world.

Savings

“They are not at peace if the data is not in the office,” he said.

However, he said it is easy to convince them to shift to the cloud once they are educated about how it works and how much is saved in terms of IT expense.

Gamboa said they usually win over skeptical business owners when they cite instances where crucial data is lost when servers and hardware crash and no back-up has been made of the files.

There are now 68 companies in the country using NetSuite. The cheapest offering they have costs $79 a month for each user, which Troselj said, is a lot cheaper and worry-free than investing in systems that need constant maintenance and qualified staff to make sure the systems are working well. In the cloud, the only thing needed to work is a web browser, which most people have access to nowadays, with smartphones becoming a popular web browsing device.

Troselj said many think shifting to the cloud is costly, especially after they have invested in sophisticated systems.

However, he said many users realize they become more productive as they can do things quickly and efficiently, with data accessed in real time and not relying on staff to send completed reports over.