Four years back, at inception, management at Cloudpoint Systems Inc. had a serious bet the farm choice to make. With 20+ year’s success in the high tech business, it was clear the ground was shifting beneath business of Information Technology. The internet was maturing and finally realizing the potential that had produced the stock market bubble and crash started in the mid 1990’s. At that time the infrastructure was not in place to support the wild promises of stock market hucksters. By 2009 the basic infrastructure was in place. When we think of basic infrastructure we mean affordable
high speed communication lines with a vast coverage area. These communication lines carry the signals to all the computers attached to the internet and are usually owned by the old telephone carriers. You all have an account with one of them for your telephones, cell phones and internet. Add the expanded range and speed of the mobile cell networks and the infrastructure is in place to deliver useful affordable digital services everywhere. There were many IT companies that had bet the farm too early and were gone. They had great ideas, talented people and a compelling product but failed because of the obstacles in place. We knew those obstacles were fading fast. We had moved quickly to get ahead of previous technology shifts and our experience told us it is that time again. The marketplace had given the coming technology shift a name … the cloud.
As a management team that had delivered IT services to business, we aligned with very large business partners, added real value to their products and offered these services to business. In the past we had aligned with the major players in the IT business and had success with them all. The reality before us in 2009 was that many of the major players were behind the curve on the shift. Some were not going to survive … case in point Blackberry/RIM. Here was a company that had dominated the business mobile market and to our dismay was dead man walking. The wave was going to crush them and they had their heads firmly in the sand. As we examined our options our focus turned to Microsoft, a formidable partner and in our opinion the company with the most at risk and the most upside potential. They had all the pieces in place to take advantage of the shift if they could execute. But at that time it looked like they could not get out of their own way. Microsoft had missed the mobile piece entirely by focusing all their attention on the desktop. Windows 7 had just been released that year and it was a huge success but the iPhone was bigger. Consequently the iPhone was changing everything. The iPhone services and apps were all managed from the cloud. Google’s Android emerged, tied to Google services with Google giving it away free. Microsoft had no answer to any of these market changers in 2009.
In January 2010 we formed Cloudpoint Systems Inc. Our mission was simple, to run our business from the cloud and to offer those same services to our customers. Did we choose Apple or Google to run our business? Apple was the logical choice at that time as they were in ascension and the cool kids all had Macs and the iPad was just around the corner. But we decided that Apple did not really have a cloud that business could depend on. They were heavily invested in entertainment and the security was non-existent as they believed they were invulnerable. History has proved differently. Was Google the choice? After all they had Google Apps and a real cloud that could deliver services with a world class development team behind it and promises to get it all right. Surely Google is the choice yes? Surely but for one reason … Google makes its money from serving ads and you are the product they sell. In February 2010 Microsoft announced Windows Phone 7 and Azure. Followed shortly after with Office 365 and MS CRM online. The battleship was slowly turning and all guns were being aimed in one direction. They were late to the party and would have to sprint to catch up. Could they ?
We chose to align with Microsoft knowing it would be a long term gain with short term pain. At the time MS cloud services were not fully baked and the press was savaging the company. Windows 8 was announced and delivered stillborn. We began to wonder if the pain was short term.
Today MS Cloud is the fasted growing and the most complete offering for business by far. No one company can offer the menu of cloud services that Microsoft delivers. Not Apple, Google, Salesforce or any other “Cloud “company. Microsoft dwarfs them all in giving business a complete solution from one vendor for a great price. Apple just announced a partnership with IBM to align Apple devices with the IBM cloud. Google has a fragmented and totally woeful menu of services all designed to get you hooked in for free and exploit your private information. The rest of the pack are all wannabe’s hoping for a buyout from the giants. The latest figures show business flocking to the cloud and the cloud they are choosing most is the brand they trust .. Microsoft.
That decision has proved to be the right one for Cloudpoint and it’s the right one for you.
