Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.166 2025.08.01 Takahashi Minoru

Everyone hopes that good people will survive

Thank you for your interest and continued support.
This is Takahashi from the Marketing Plan Research Laboratory.


Following up on our previous column,
I’ll explain below.


We often see and hear PR claims that “the cloud is cheap.”
In reality, this isn’t the case,
and in most cases,
in most cases.


So why do so many companies choose the cloud?
I’ll explain the “unique benefits of the cloud”
from the perspective of an SME president, as always.


In conclusion, the biggest advantage of the cloud is
"binding the system vendor more tightly to your company."


Even if the cloud is more expensive, the reason it’s chosen
the benefits beyond cost.
Generally, the benefits of the cloud
are as follows:
・Simultaneous use across multiple locations
Headquarters, branch offices, and remote workers can all use the same system
・Business continuity planning (BCP) support
Particularly effective when required by banks or business partners
・Other features, such as security, automatic backups, API integration, and more
Makes it relatively easy to share data with customers and business partners, etc.
・Reduced initial investment
No need to purchase servers; you can start with just a monthly fee
(However, since the monthly fee is required indefinitely, it ends up being more expensive in the long run)
・Upgrading server capacity requires only a monthly fee increase; no need to replace or purchase additional hardware


While the above are certainly good benefits,
what I’d like to focus on here is a “unique benefit” distinct from those mentioned above.


The cloud offers an important benefit that isn’t generally discussed.
It is the effect of “keeping the system company tied to your company” and “keeping them locked in so they don’t leave.”
.


As you may have heard in the news,
there is a severe shortage of IT talent.
System companies and engineers are in high demand,
and since everyone has their own personal lives to consider,
if a better-paying job comes along, they’ll inevitably move on to it.
It’s just the nature of business, but this aspect is rather ruthless.


For this reason, small and medium-sized enterprises in particular
must figure out how to keep their existing system integrators loyal to their company,
and how to prevent them from leaving for other clients
are key factors in formulating an IT strategy.


If your company—that is, the client commissioning the system—is an SME,
your company is often viewed by general-purpose system integrators as a “temporary customer.”
・The scale of the system is relatively small,
and the profit margin is lower compared to work for large companies
・When the system is small, individual engineers
feel that the project “is unlikely to contribute to their future skill development”
・Budget constraints are strict, making it difficult to invest in the latest technologies


However, regardless of whether a company is large or small,
it’s not something that’s finished once it’s built.
Since most systems require ongoing maintenance, operation, and improvement,
all companies should strive to maintain
maintain a long-term, positive relationship with the system vendor they have chosen.


Historically, “maintenance” has been
“maintenance” has long been one of the most effective ways to do so.
By paying regular maintenance fees, you continue doing business with the system vendor,
and thereby maintain the relationship.


However, maintenance
a major weakness:
"it is easily terminated by the system vendor."


Most of the time, the system company’s true motive is “termination because it’s not profitable,”
they often use plausible-sounding excuses such as
using plausible-sounding excuses
and cases where maintenance is unilaterally terminated are actually on the rise.
Since the system won’t immediately stop working even without maintenance,
"terminating maintenance" is an easy option for system companies.


On the other hand, when the client requests cloud services from the system vendor,
the situation is quite different.
Shutting down the cloud service means the system stops immediately,
unlike with the termination of maintenance, it does not result in a state where “the system is still running for the time being.”
Therefore, unlike maintenance, terminating a cloud service
almost always requires a proper plan, including the selection of a new provider and the execution of the migration.
Even if the cloud migration effort
evenver, even if the system vendor does not bear the cost (and the destination system vendor does),
it is generally difficult to casually propose terminating a cloud service.


It is by no means uncommon for system vendors to propose terminating maintenance contracts, but
it is virtually unheard of for a system vendor to unilaterally declare the termination of a cloud service.


To summarize the above,
the “hidden benefit” of choosing the cloud is
it becomes easier to maintain a long-term, stable relationship with your system provider.
This
・Peace of mind regarding continuous system operation
・Guaranteed prompt response in the event of issues
・Consistent support during system improvements and expansions
In this way, it should make a significant contribution to your company’s IT strategy.


If you ever need to decide whether or not to move to the cloud,
you should consider not only simple cost comparisons
we recommend that you also consider
.


That's all, Thank you for reading.

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＜＜＜ Next Column Vol.167 - PPAP is comfort for the Japanese soul 2025.09.01

＞＞＞ Previous Column Vol.165 - Cloud is also an effective way to lock your system company into your service 2025.07.01

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