Cloud First, Cloud Often -- Leveraging the "Tectonic Shift" to the Cloud with Mobile Apps

To cloud your app or not to cloud your app…That is the question!

According to Juniper Research, between 2009 and 2014 the market for cloud-based mobile apps is projected to increase by nearly 90%. This projection asserts my conviction that the marriage between mobile apps and cloud is proving to be a real success.

The question however remains: how can startups make the best out of this marriage? I believe that today’s session at the BizSpark European Summit 2012 tackled this question in a very pragmatic and realistic approach.

We heard from a panel with a wide variety of expertise:  Stephen Forte (Chief Strategy Officer Telerik), Rob Fraser (Chief Technology Officer for Cloud Services Microsoft UK), Bernard Dallé (Partner Index Ventures) and Andrew Yates (CEO & Co-Founder Artesian).

Everybody on the panel agreed that starting a company today is very different than 15 years ago: On one hand the amount of capital and risk are much lower and on the other hand the business environment and users’ preferences are moving much faster. As Bernard puts it “the new economy is about innovating and then running very fast”. The rules of the game are: Innovation, focus and agility. Enter cloud!

The cloud is “a tectonic shift greater in amplitude than open source” (Bernard Dallé ). Cloud gives startups the opportunity to focus on what counts, to scale and to adapt. However to be successful in the cloud “you need a standard subscription business, recurring revenue model & customers willing to pay" (Andrew Yates). I will add one more item to this list: a great product!

Of course, we are a company that is heavily behind the cloud and mobile apps and today I believe everyone in the room at the Euro BizSpark Summit agreed that this marriage is the future provided it is put in place wisely.

This blog post was written by : Stephan Jacquemot, Emerging Business Lead Germany, Microsoft