Adopting cloud technologies will continue to be a priority for many midsize companies, especially those wanting to scale and expand globally. “As technology has changed and advanced, more small and midsized organizations are becoming global organizations,” says Colin Brennan, executive vice president of cloud HCM and financial solutions at Alight Solutions. “In order to scale, these organizations are relying on technology like cloud solutions to provide the infrastructure they need to operate in markets around the world. With varying legal, tax, HR, and payroll regulations from country-to-country, cloud systems allow midsize organizations to navigate the complexity without having to make large people investments in the countries in which they operate.”
The IDC report2 also predicts that cloud-based capabilities will continue to transform how SMBs deploy technology, highlighting that organizations will continue to add new cloud applications even while they are in the process of upgrading internal on-premises infrastructure.
When it comes to cloud, Jackson says that it’s important for companies to consider what areas of the business can benefit the most. According to the Deloitte report, when it comes to digital transformation, three areas of the business are expected to see the most workforce-related changes: operations (54 percent), customer service (46 percent), and marketing (41 percent).
Chris Michalak, CEO at Alight Solutions, points to cloud momentum in HR and finance, highlighting that over 50 percent of companies will rely on cloud-based solutions for their HR applications by 2020, according to Information Services Group. “In Alight’s own business, by the end of 2019, 75 percent of our clients will have moved from standard, hosted platforms to cloud-based HCM,” he says. “We expect this shift to cloud to really pick up for midsized companies as they realize how these solutions can support their HR and financial infrastructures and provide an incredible amount of data and insights to better inform their business decisions.”