When I speak with CIOs and IT managers many are still surprised that Xerox has been a player in the business cloud for years. But as the world’s leading enterprise for business process and document management, we’ve always contended that the cloud is an integral piece of simplifying the way work gets done – offering on-demand technology that’s scalable, affordable and can be accessed anywhere, anytime.

So as the calendar turns let’s look at key cloud trends and opportunities in 2013:

Because the cloud is still an emerging force, it’s not always necessary that a candidate have cloud experience. But it is critical that employees are able to deliver client solutions in  weeks, not months, and are adept at turning a service into a sellable product. At Xerox our focus is on growing our bench of cloud service experts organically rather than through recruitment.

The next frontier for cloud services is deeper penetration into specific industries, specifically hyper-competitive markets such as retail and hospitality. We’ve seen the benefits of cloud solutions in large enterprises and increasingly in SMB environments. But there’s also great opportunity for industry-specific solutions such as help desk or telecom expense management services for retail, where profit margins can be razor thin.

Data analytics driven by cloud services. As businesses increasingly operate in more locations nationally and globally, cloud services allow them to make sense of all the customer and operational information at their disposal. Xerox is adept at leveraging big data, and bringing that data analytics power to clients in a cloud services-based package is a major growth opportunity for the industry.

What other cloud developments do you see in 2013?

Ken Stephens
realbusinessatxerox.blogs.xerox.com