10/06/2010

Move to the Cloud

There are few modern businesses in Southern Utah. I am increasingly surprised how many business majors are unaware of the advantages GoogleApps provides and the number of small-business owners who have not yet harnessed it. Google’s Internet-scale cloud computing framework accomplishes economies of scale that yield considerable cost savings for customers. With over 3 million users and 3000 organizations signing up each day, Google’s marginal cost is incredibly low, therefore it is able to offer the service at just $50 per year per user. This service is valuable to me because it is scarce. Few companies offer such efficient and user-friendly cloud software at a reasonable price. If I were to create it on my own I’d have substantially higher costs with a much lower rate of success.

3 comments:

Jamie said...

One of the issues with Google Apps, however, is the compatibility with current market leaders such as Microsoft (from personal experience). In order to be a truly effective player in the market, the applications must be truly easier to use and compatible with those applications which so many other people use. In a market where the majority of people already use Google Apps, their market share can grow quicker, but in a more rural area, such as Southern Utah, less people are interested in the latest innovation, so completely shifting your business over to an unknown program can create confusion and potential loss of market share for your business, since people will go where they are most comfortable.

Jamie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dr. Tufte said...

Is this a plug or a post? ;)

I'm going to stick my neck out here, and assert that this is because the vast majority of business owners actually "don't play well with others". Bear with me for a minute ...

We, like all business schools, get a lot of feedback from our business advisory boards that graduates aren't very good at working in teams and groups.

Is this because we don't push that sort of thing, or because business graduates aren't inclined to be good at it?

I think it may be the latter: someone who doesn't work well with others is going to be inclined to start their own business.

In the end though, this makes it less likely for them to pick up on things like GoogleApps.