SOLVING THECLOUD CONUNDRUM FOR MID-MARKET

Industrial landscape is vast and not to miss, extremely diverse. With

multiple attempts by many business gurus and visionaries, the

market segmentation has gone through several iterations in the

course of history. And the result – some clear-cut and some

ambiguous traits chalked out to bifurcate the industry for the ease

of understanding and addressal.

Going by the broadest segregation matrix, let’s take the SMB (Small

& Medium Businesses), Mid-Market and Large Enterprise split.

Defined by revenue, resource pool and number of employees, this

classification is by far the easiest one to comprehend.

UNDERSTANDING THE INDUSTRY

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While the SMBs enjoy the flexibility, absence of any legacy load and

openness to experimentation, the large enterprises bask in the rich

cash pools and resource abundance for growing their businesses.

The seemingly safe mid-spot, that is the mid-market, embraces the

threats and the opportunities of both its succeeding and preceding

industrial sectors.

Mid-market firms can also be likened to the industry equaliser or

the balancing bridge between two extremely different business

worlds – small and large. And while the competition is getting

stiffer with the responsibility to guard both the ends increasing, the

future seems quite bright for the mid-high flyer.

THE ‘SWEET’ & ‘NOT-SO-SWEET’ MID-SPOT

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Mid-market company leaders are planning for higher revenues,

creating more full-time jobs and racing to embrace disruptive

technologies like AI.

China, India and Russia are becoming increasingly dominant voices

on the global mid-market stage.

Mid-market industry sectors of technology, media and industrial

products will see highest level of AI adoption by 2020.

– EY Growth Barometer 20181

Mid-market drove maximum volume of M&A activity in 2017 and

the robust trajectory trend is expected to continue with scale-up of

mid-market players across the globe.

– KPMG M&A Predictor: Global Overview 2

RAGING TO GO UP!

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As per a global survey, 90% of mid-market players see

economic volatility across the globe as opportunity for them in

disguise. 3

Bullish on revenue targets, almost 90% mid-market companies

globally are expecting a growth of 6% or more in the next year

and many are predicting a double-digit increase. 1

Nearly a quarter of global mid-market players plan to enter a

new geographical market, while a fifth are planning to expand

into adjacent business activities. 3

73% mid-market players are either already adopting AI or plan

to adopt in the near term (two years). 1

Despite digitisation leading to some negative disruption in the

job market, 39% mid-market firms are increasing their

workforce with full time hires (12% up compared to 2017). 1

STATISTICS THAT AFFIRM THE WORDS

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Like a caterpillar cocoon struggling its way out to become a

beautiful butterfly, the toiling is quite real for mid-market companies

as well.

This ambitious dreamer plus doer segment of the industry faces

both, the challenges as well as the spring board potential from both

the ends – SMBs and large enterprises, on fronts like resources,

technology, cash flow, creativity etc.

Consistent efforts to sustain their spot and becoming further

competitive is the choice the sector prefers to go by.

FLUTTERING TO FLY HIGH

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A quick look at some of the sentiments around mid-market

growth.

WHAT DO THEY SAY?

“Agility is advantageous and technology, especially cloud migration helps the case.”

“Embracing digital transformation is both an opportunity and a necessity.”

“Can’t sustain for long without scaling up across the globe.”

“Not just profitability but survival depends upon the pace of reduction in operation and IT costs.”

“Ability to innovate and innovate faster will be a differentiator.”

“Specialist skills, not just in finance domain but in technology (AI, Analytics, ML), is extremely critical in view of the current mismatch between talent demand and supply.”

“Elimination of hierarchical models is needed to fit in the race of 4th industrial revolution.”

“Anything and everything need to be done to maintain profitable growth in times characterised by changing market dynamics and customer demands.”

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Conjoining the current market status, future

predictions, customer expectations, rising

competition, blurring market segmentation

and several similar factors – migration to

cloud seems like an obvious answer to the

question of mid-market progression. It may

seem like an industry buzz but behold,

dismissing it as one will be a sure-shot pull-

back for any mid-market firm.

The key lies in understanding the benefits,

mapping them with the requirements and

skilfully making the transition while closing it

with a proper review and assessment to

address any loopholes.

TRANSFORMATION IS THE

NEED OF THE HOUR AND

MIGRATION TO CLOUD IS ONE

CRITICAL STEP FOR MID-MARKET

TO CATCH THE TREND.

IS IT THE CLOUD MOMENT?

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A few of the umpteen

benefits which cloud

movement can bring to the

mid-market firms:

Levels the playing field in the aggressively competitive world

Lessens the investment in expensive data centers or highly skilled IT

resources

Quicker turn-around and creative approach becomes plausible with

shared resources and self-service capabilities

Provision of right-sizing the resources as per the demand owing to

agile scalability

Transition from legacy data centers reduces the complexity and

provides pay-as-you-use model

Subsequent operational cost reduction owing to aggressive

licensing models

Opportunity to seize new market opportunities and diversify into

newer zones with heightened scalability

Provision of disaster avoidance/ business continuity (DA/BC)

functions to assist in the time of need

THE BENEFITBRIGADE

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With so many benefits attached (plus the risks associated with non-

action), catching the cloud wagon is the certain way for mid-market

companies to drive innovation and improve their competitive

positioning.

Let’s see what next you ought to do…

Identify the starting point

Have realistic expectations & consider the resources, workload

nature, probable scale-up or scale-down possibility to chose from

public, private or hybrid model.

Tip: In decision-making, go beyond the CIO & involve the teams – be it

marketing, innovation etc. after all, you never know where the big-ticket

idea will come from.

Go gradual

Focus on achieving cloud readiness first instead of rushing and allow

optimal time to yourself to test the viability and smooth transition.

Don’t lift and shift

Customise the transition as per the job lifecycle and if the nature of

business is dynamic and seasonal, like e-commerce, opt for

environment offering transaction-based scale up.

ANSWERING THE CLOUD CALL

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Let’s face it, even if you’re convinced that migration onto cloud is the

best deal for you, the transition is not going to be an easy feat!

But don’t let that deter you, because, there are ways to ease up the

complexities.

Let’s begin by understanding all the probable challenges you may

encounter – right from the moment you decide to take the plunge.

Licensing complexities - Analysing the concurrent licensing models,

mapping old ones to the new structure, usage monitoring etc.

Getting precise requirements from all the user accounts

Understanding the allocation of software across instances of the

cloud

Ensuring a fair pay-out since a virtualized environment will span

multiple machines

Understanding the upgrade paths for the future packages and

being prepared.

AND THE TOUGH PART

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The good news is, despite such complex sounding challenges, you can

still have an easy way out and enjoy the benefits of cloud.

The key is to find a trusted cloud partner as well as a sales enablement

player who can help with the transition, mitigating the risks associated

with stepping into the new territory. The latter, in fact, can help you

with the selection of a cloud partner as well, mapping the provisions to

your precise needs.

Right from migration, scale-up to cost management – sales

enablement partners these days are all up for simplifying the transition

and cloud on-boarding process as much as possible for not just SMBs

and large enterprises but also for mid-market firms. The mid-spot is

where lies the maximum potential after all.

BREAKING THE BAD

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With the right enablement partner

selection, you get a bunch of benefits:

A stable shift in terms of computing paradigms

Simplified language of license agreements which otherwise holds

the key to a host of confusion

An assured licensing matrix instead of a volatile one in cases

pertaining to developments such as M&A etc.

Adherence to industry-standards

Management of uncapped usage and compliance issues

Customised budget management

Ultimately, it all boils down to the requirement of comprehensive

planning & coordination in terms of the changing the processes,

technology, data, talent pool, security, support, etc. With these initial

pre-preps in place with the help of enablement partners, the transition

journey today has been made more seamless than it was ever before.

BENEFITS ARE PLENTY!

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The world is moving to cloud and so are you, to avoid stagnation and

ultimately, dismissal. Not just that, it’s the same road which allows off-

roading to the land of innovation and quick scale-up – few elements

you can’t thrive without.

As per a mid-market study4

• 25% of IT budgets are allocated towards cloud computing

• 72% of businesses are already using some cloud applications

• 90% of mid-market leaders believe that cloud is their future

Becoming a mandatory norm or necessity these days, these figures

shouldn’t astound you as the market is picking up pace with every

passing day, when it comes to adopting and leveraging cloud services.

YOU’RE NOT ALONE

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Can an SMB or an enterprise not take advantage of

this cloud opportunity - sure they can, but the sweet

spot is mid-market now. Without the resource crunch

of an SMB or the operational complexity of an

enterprise, a mid-market organisation with enough

creative fire power has the best potential to scale in

today's technology leveraged market.

SNEHASHISH BHATTACHARJEE

Global CEO & Co-Founder, Denave

Mid-market players are at cusp of exponential growth.

Their choices in the space of technology adoption,

especially cloud migration, for managing the rising

complexity, as well as optimizing their expenditure -

are going to be the game changers for the future.

MONNEY BHATIA

Global Head – Transition & Quality, Denave

LEADERS SPEAK!

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Cloud migration is no more an option but a need for mid-

market to sustain itself amidst the growing competition.

MID-MARKET MOVEMENT TO CLOUD

IT’S NOT THE FUTURE…IT’S THE PRESENT!

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For more sales insights, visit

www.denave.com/resources

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Sources

https://betterworkingworld.ey.com/growth/growth-

barometer-2018

https://home.kpmg.com/xx/en/home/insights/2018/04/m-

and-a-predictor-global-overview.html

https://www.ey.com/gl/en/issues/governance-and-

reporting/center-for-board-matters/ey-what-mid-market-

boards-need-to-benchmark-growth

https://www.swc.com/cloud-first-strategies-mid-market

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