White Papers Leveraging the cloud for improved performance | Page 3

Leveraging the Cloud for Improved Performance
A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper
WHY THE CLOUD?
In a recent ComTech survey of CTRM buyers and industry consultants, fully 70% indicated they
felt that the ability to deliver CTRM software via the cloud was of at least some importance to
potential buyers, a significant increase over previous years’ measures…and given the trends
ComTech has observed in recent months in terms of CTRM procurement activity, that percentage
has likely already grown significantly.
Though the reasons for adopting cloud solutions will ob-
viously vary from buyer to buyer, ComTech’s research
indicates that cost, both entry cost and ongoing costs,
has been a major factor, if not the primary factor, that
has motivated many buyers of these systems. This isn’t
to say that cloud solutions will necessarily be cheaper
to license, deploy, and maintain for all - that will depend
in a large part on the comparable licensing and annual
maintenance fees charged by a particular vendor for a
traditionally installed system. However, in most cases,
cloud solutions, with lower initial acquisition costs and
more rapid deployment, may in fact be less expensive.
Beyond these noted cost benefits, experience has
demonstrated a number of other additional financial
and operational advantages have been realized from
cloud-delivered CTRM solutions:
 / Ability to shift capital expenses to operating expens-
es - meaning reduced yet more predictable costs and
potential tax advantages; and, making it easier to get
spending approval
/  Reduced spend for internal IT infrastructure and inter-
nal support costs as cloud solutions usually provide
environment management services, upgrades and up-
dates, DBA support, helpdesk, and technical support
/  Simplified scalability and elasticity allowing custom-
ers to add new users or expand the breadth of system
access within hours
/  Seamless and easy to deploy integration with third-par-
ty systems via rich APIs and web services
/  Improved reliability vs. internal servers and support
/ Improved access for remote offices or employees