{"id":68982,"date":"2021-04-01T10:46:05","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T08:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/?p=68982"},"modified":"2026-01-29T15:45:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:45:56","slug":"want-to-grow-scale-and-innovate-you-need-true-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/want-to-grow-scale-and-innovate-you-need-true-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"Want to grow, scale and innovate? You need true cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTechnology & Innovation<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWant to grow, scale and innovate? You need true cloud\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\tGerhard Hartman<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Growth, scalability, and innovation have been the calling cards of technology since the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company changed its name to IBM in 1924. <\/span>Technology has certainly come a long way since the days of punch cards. <\/span>High<\/span>–<\/span>growth companies seeking a technological advantage today <\/span>are\u202flooking<\/span> <\/span>to the cloud. And <\/span>not just any cloud, but\u202f<\/span>true cloud<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>\u202fwhich hinges on several key elements<\/span>:<\/span> <\/span>M<\/span>ulti-tenancy, elastic infrastructure, high configurability, self-service expansion, and integration APIs.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not everyone in <\/span>the industry <\/span>agrees<\/span> on what exactly true cloud is, and why it would even be important. <\/span>Even the definitions of these true cloud elements are <\/span>often <\/span>misunderstood. Let’s <\/span>create some clarity. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, let\u2019s look at the difference between growth and scalability.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growth is the increase of mission-specific results within an organi<\/span>s<\/span>ation.<\/span> For businesses, t<\/span>his could be an increase in revenue, customers, or profits. In a non-profit organisation, this could mean <\/span>more<\/span> <\/span>beneficiaries<\/span> <\/span>helped<\/span>, monies collected and distributed, trees planted<\/span>,<\/span> etc.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scalability, <\/span>while <\/span>tied to growth, refers to an organi<\/span>s<\/span>ation\u2019s ability to handle growth without a proportional increase in resources. For instance, can you handle twice as many customer invoices without adding twice as many accounts<\/span>–<\/span>receivable clerks? Or can you report across three times more locations without adding finance staff?<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grow <\/span><\/b>with<\/span><\/b> true cloud<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Growth brings more than just more <\/span>business<\/span>. It also brings more complex transactions. <\/span>It <\/span>often calls for processes to manage larger quantities of things. For example, double the number of sales orders means double the number of sales quotes, shippers, and sales invoices \u2013 <\/span>and this will also <\/span>mean an<\/span> increase <\/span>in the number of returns. It also means categori<\/span>si<\/span>ng and subdividing information, so people can still get their heads around it. In data terms, even geometric growth in revenue can lead to exponential growth in data just due to the complexities of growth.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\u202f<\/span>multi-tenant cloud system<\/span>, with its near-infinite capacity for processing and storage, supports this kind of growth. <\/span>As a result of <\/span>thousands of companies shar<\/span>ing<\/span> resources on a multi-tenant or true cloud, the system is built to handle unexpected spikes, with constant monitoring to maintain overall capacity three to four times greater than daily usage. <\/span>A<\/span> multi-tenant system is <\/span>much <\/span>like a <\/span>massive<\/span> reservoir, with a dam that is always raised to stay multiple times higher than the current water level. Even if the highest growth companies doubled overnight, the impact would hardly be noticed, since the aggregate of all companies is growing at a predictable rate.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A single tenant system<\/span> (individual deployment)<\/span>,<\/span> on the other hand, can\u2019t handle rapid growth as engineers cannot monitor the whole system in aggregate.<\/span> Rather than a single reservoir, a single tenant system is like storing rainwater in thousands of separate buckets. As each bucket fills up, it needs to be replaced with a bigger bucket, requiring lots of bucket engineers and possible spills during busy times.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By its very nature, a true cloud system invites clients to grow with confidence.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scal<\/span><\/b>e<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/b>with<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/b>true cloud<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Scaling with growth comes down to automating \u2013 automating how data gets in and out of the system and automating data-driven decisions and tasks. In true cloud, with thousands of clients working off the same code base, systems have to account for thousands of individual differences. APIs (application programming interfaces) allow for individual data exchanges with external systems such as CRMs or payroll providers. They make it possible for clients to connect to their other services while setting rules around how those connections send and receive data.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

True cloud also offers ways for clients to set their own policies and rules within the system, without expensive upgrades \u2013 even i<\/span>f<\/span> the main applications are up<\/span>dated<\/span>. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Innovat<\/span><\/b>e<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/b>with <\/span><\/b>true cloud<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The sheer processing power of true cloud expands the possibilities for innovation.<\/span> The architecture of a true cloud system allows developers to innovate and solve large data issues that simply cannot be done within the limits of single-server solutions. <\/span>True cloud is also where AI will come of age \u2013 because intelligent applications that learn from past actions will have billions of transactions to teach them.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This innovation isn\u2019t only available on some mammoth <\/span>super<\/span>–<\/span>computer. With true cloud, deployment becomes a matter of course for all clients on the same application base. Every client <\/span>has access to this incredible innovation, and with so many clients to look after, true cloud providers are heavily invested in staying ahead of the game in terms of regulations and technology. <\/span>This means true cloud providers become the vanguard for each new wave of solutions tackling tomorrow\u2019s problems.<\/span> \n

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CFO 3.0: Digital Transformation Beyond Financial Management <\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Discover how CFOs are playing a key role in leading the digitalisation of medium-sized businesses and learn how to move from a 'historian' to a 'visionary' within your business.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload the whitepaper<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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Subscribe to the Sage Advice enewsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Get a roundup of our best business advice in your inbox every month.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growth, scalability, and innovation have been the calling cards of technology since the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company changed its name to IBM in 1924. Technology has certainly come a long way since the days of punch cards. High–growth companies seeking a technological advantage today are\u202flooking to the cloud. And not just any cloud, but\u202ftrue cloud,\u202fwhich hinges on several key elements: Multi-tenancy, elastic infrastructure, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":803,"featured_media":68740,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,28],"tags":[356,318],"business_type":[3],"lilypad":[],"context":[],"industry":[],"persona":[8,13],"imagine_tag":[355],"coauthors":[428],"class_list":["post-68982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth-customers","category-technology-innovation","tag-cfo-3-0","tag-cloud","business_type-medium-business"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-za","author_name":"Gerhard Hartman","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/08\/Fin24-Lifestyle-Image-7.jpg","imagine_tags":{"355":"CFO 3.0"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice South Africa","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/803"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/68740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68982"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=68982"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=68982"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=68982"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=68982"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=68982"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=68982"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=68982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}