Is it profitable to invest in cloud computing? The German software company, SAP, thought so and purchased SuccessFactors – SFSF for over $3 Billion USD. A couple of months ago Oracle – ORCL paid $1.4 billion USD for Right Now Technologies – RNOW. These companies choose to invest in cloud computing in order to widen the scope of services they offer their clients. However, it is not all clear that cloud computing is all that profitable. If you are an independent investor and you want to invest in cloud computing we offer a little background and, hopefully, useful insight. As always when investing in relatively new technology one needs to work through a bit of fundamental analysis regarding what a technology does, how a company uses that technology for products or services, and how a company uses the new technology to enhance corporate profits and raise stock prices.
Things You Need to Know in Order to Invest in Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is essentially a marketing term. The so called cloud refers to a composite of applications, platforms and infrastructure. Infrastructure includes auxiliary storage, a network, and extra computing services. Platforms include data bases and the programming languages and programming itself that processes and stores information. Applications are the programs that users currently purchase and install on their servers or personal computers. In cloud computing the user does not buy software programs but rather buys a service that can include programs and many of the IT support services and network infrastructure that a company generally needs to purchase and maintain. Computing has become progressively more complex. The cost of entry into such services can be a progressively more significant part of a company budget. A reason for a company to invest in cloud computing services is that there is a low cost of entry and a predictable monthly cost. If the company no longer needs these services it can cancel its contract and not have to deal with laying off IT personnel and having tens of thousands of dollars of soon to be outdated software that they have no use for. That is the simple outline of cloud computing for a company. But is a cloud computing company a good stock investment?
Should You Invest in Cloud Computing As an Investor?
The companies that Oracle and SAP bought out went at a premium. Certainly anyone who had invested in their stock and profited from the buyout is happy. Cloud computing is a relatively new phenomenon in the computing world. Thus there are startup companies developing not only software but entire management algorithms for the world of cloud computing. If you invest in cloud computing as an investor in a startup company you run the same risks and have the same potential for reward as anyone investing in startups. A review of how to invest in penny stocks may be in order. Certainly an individual investing in any startup company needs to have a clear view of what the company does and how it intends to make money doing it. In order for cloud computing to be truly successful it needs to not only save companies money when they sign up for services. It needs to save companies money over the long run. This can happen if a company does not need to continually upgrade its software, buy new hardware, or employ more and more tech support. However, the proof is in the pudding and anyone who wants to successfully invest in cloud computing needs to follow this story to see how it turns out.