Innovation is the fuel that drives greater value – the multi-cloud environment provides the freedom to positively disrupt business models and transform industry conventions. The best performing organizations in the EMEA Cloud Climbers list succeed by leveraging a robust cloud strategy that exploits gaps in the market and capitalizes on opportunities to deploy app services that enhance the customer experience. Those companies that get it right seize market share and differentiate themselves from competitors. Those that get it wrong, are mired in complexity or fade into oblivion.
Clearing the way to the cloud
Gartner recently predicted that cloud-based security services will be worth $9 billion in 2020, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.1%. Companies using advanced cloud-based solutions have capitalized on the market potential and found innovative ways to provide customers, both to businesses and consumers, with new quality services. They can now begin to imagine a future with greater autonomy through deploying applications much faster, smarter and safer than ever before. By unleashing innovation in the app, firms can make their way to the cloud, whether on-premises, public or hybrid, with greater security and control.
Spearheaded by thought-leadership innovators Hot Topics and sponsored by application security and cloud experts F5 Networks, the Top 50 EMEA Cloud Climbers Report reveals how companies are using pioneering technology and cloud computing to transform business fortunes and gain market impact.
FlixBus, Europe’s leading transport enablers, is a born-in-the-cloud start-up and differentiates itself from the competition by offering digital services, such as mobile booking and ticketing, as well as airline-style dynamic pricing that adapts to demand and capacity. Through their own proprietary platforms, the German firm gained around 80% of German inter-city bus journeys booked. Crucially, the operation has shaken up a traditional industry, and Daniel Krauss, co-founder and CIO, FlixBus, believes that accelerating technological advances could hasten the demise of traditional modes of transport. “I can imagine a future with autonomous buses and trucks, which will eventually make rail groups obsolete,” he predicts.
Application security strategy is more critical than ever to navigate the threat landscape successfully. Data must be protected to remain compliant and retain brand reputation. The Cloud Climbers report showcases why companies can break boundaries and pioneer in very traditional industries. With the ongoing advances in digital technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, companies like FlixBus sees the potential to use advanced technology, such as chatbots, to reach new customers through messaging apps and voice recognition systems.
“With cloud integration, FlixBus could enable innovative technologies and thereby influence and improve the product innovation within the company,” says Krauss.
Securing business
Operationally, integrated cloud technologies improve cybersecurity (i.e. app security identity federation, policy control, mitigating cyber-attacks / breaches). Many cloud decision-makers see significant business model development and can launch innovative products and new services to drive greater efficiencies across the enterprise.
The Top 50 EMEA Cloud Climbers Report also showcases BioCatch, an Israeli based tech firm, that operates at the forefront of behavioral biometrics and monitors five billion transactions a month on behalf of financial services companies combating fraud and malware. A true born-in-the-cloud success story, BioCatch stands out from the crowd for a unique authentication system that continually monitors online user activity and electronic device interaction. The technology captures more than 500 points of behavior to create a unique user profile, including hand-eye coordination, pressure, hand tremors, navigation, scrolling and other finger movements.
“It is important to go beyond traditional fraud prevention and authentication methods and look for ways to ensure that a person is who they claim to be throughout an entire session, without creating friction in the user experience,” said BioCatch CEO, Eyal Goldwerger.
Customers too are now experiencing the benefits of their service. “The technology that we’ve been able to deploy with the help of BioCatch has played a crucial role in strengthening our security systems,” said Nat West Chief Administrative Officer, Simon McNamara.
Release the innovation
Traditional business practices are being severely challenged in today’s digital world. Those organizations that spot commercial potential to embrace new methods and secure cloud technologies will capture market share and drive revenue. Customers’ appetite for new and reliable services is happening across all sectors. There are no boundaries to business potential. Born-in-the-cloud start-ups, as well as long-established companies, are adapting their business models to become more agile, scalable, and faster to market. Now is the time to release the innovation in your apps and clear your way to the cloud.
