Microsoft Innovation Center Brussels

In my job as a Cloud Consultant for RealDolmen, I talk to lots of organizations about the opportunities of Cloud Computing for their business. I see a lot of difference in speed of Cloud adoption in the enterprises compared to startups. Of course, enterprises usually have plenty of valid reasons for their reserve versus cloud. Just to name one: the legacy of software they have to support.

Startups on the other hand are much more open to cloud. No surprise, since the cloud computing model matches the needs of startups so well.

Let’s take a closer look at some of these needs:

• Agility: as a startup, you need to be agile: while productizing your idea, you definitely will change minds from time to time. You don’t want to be limited in your ideas by infrastructure or software investments made. But also, time-to-market is very important: in many cases it’s not just a matter of fast-to-market but first-to-market. So, you don’t want to be impacted by slow hardware purchasing or provisioning processes.
• Cost efficiency: you want to spend your budget on your product, not on investments in hardware. The pay-per-use model of Windows Azure makes the platform so attractive for startups. I am still impressed by the low figures on every budget calculation I make.
  So Opex instead of Capex, but even then, don’t you want to minimize operational costs? For sure, you do not plan to spend a considerable amount of your budget on IT management and IT resources. Poor enterprises! Many analyst reports speak of figures as high as 80% of their IT budget being spent on operational costs for keeping their legacy software alive. Only 20% can be spent on activities that generate value for the business.
  Not so for startups and the (almost) zero management of PaaS and SaaS makes cloud a best friend again.
• Scale: of course you all hope to be successful. If you succeed, then you will need a multiple of the datacenter capacity you need now. Cloud can seamlessly scale with your business, so no upgrade or migrations there for you. On the other hand, in the case your idea does not catch up, then scaling down and perhaps even shutting down is also a matter of minutes. And again, all of this in a pay-per-use formula: you only pay for what you really use.
• Globality: most startup ideas are not bound or limited by geographical borders. Cloud suppliers offer datacenter capacity around the globe and support your global ambitions out-of-the-box.

Besides being a first-citizen platform for hosting your software, cloud can bring even more value to your business. Cloud unlocks scenario’s that used to be impossible, difficult or too expensive to implement. Windows Azure has building blocks that support e.g. scenarios in the domains of The Internet of Things, Big Data, mobile apps, media and many more. It shouldn’t be surprising that these domains are the playing field of many startups nowadays.

Finally, isn’t it exciting that a small startup can now take advantage of the most professional datacenter capacity in the world, and that at very affordable prices? Oh yes, indeed, in the past, startups were able to meet a certain level of agility and cost efficiency with a server under their desk (or in the garage). Although interesting stories to tell to the grandchildren, I bet you want to offer another kind of SLA to your customers nowadays.

These were just a few examples of how Cloud matches the needs of startups and this may be reason enough for your startup to, at least, think seriously about cloud. Even more, using cloud can give startups the competitive advantage they need to successfully compete large enterprises.

Want to know more about Windows Azure? MIC Brussels can get you up-and-running with Azure boostcamps and inspiration sessions. And last but not least, there’s Microsoft’s BizSpark program, a free program dedicated to support startups by providing them with free software and tools, and a credit of Azure consumption.