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Cloud computing services (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) have over the years reduced the total cost of ownership (TCO) for many industry players. About ten years ago, when cloud services started becoming popular, the reigning thought was that only small and mid-size industry players will move to the cloud. But, today even largest players, across the globe and across industries, are leveraging cloud services to keep operational costs under control by paying-on-the go for the services instead of incurring high upfront capital expenditure. 
 
Is Cloud suitable for all Indian businesses? Maybe, maybe not, but its ‘pay-as-you-go’ benefit makes it more lucrative as well as sensible option for Indian start-ups, who usually work on shoe-string budgets. Why should they pay or invest in storage space which they might not be using? This is one of the many instances where start-ups can save money and drastically bring down their operational costs by leveraging the Cloud technology for business resilience. 
 
Let’s take a look at some of the immediate benefits that Cloud can deliver. 
 
Reduce up-front costs by 30% 
A report by O’Reilly Media shows that companies can save up to 30% in IT costs over a three-year period employing cloud resources versus on-premises equipment. This is a compelling proposition for the startups who would like to extract the maximum out of every penny available. The first three years are again very crucial years for a start-up. If the start-up is able to save 30% of its expenditure on IT- why should they think twice? 
 
Freedom &amp; ease to quickly scale up (or down) 
Every organization likes predictability. Larger organizations can predict their future needs for various resources based on empirical data they have collected in the past. Things are however, different with start-ups. They can’t predict how and when the demand for various resources will go up (or down) and this unpreparedness can do serious damage to their bottom line. They can address this issue by moving some of their IT services to the Cloud, thereby converting majority of the fixed costs on IT into variable costs. This will enable predictability and thus help start-ups scale up/down storage space, processing space, number of email IDs etc. on the go. 
 
Is cloud a safe bet? 
Earlier, concerns on cloud services security and reliability were valid. Not today, when many big players have entered the arena with a vast portfolio of cloud services. Presence of companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce.com in the cloud services space has already instilled confidence among organizations. 
Start using cloud resources now and save some precious rupees for marketing or expansion? 
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Indian Start-ups Should Ride The Cloud!

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/28876172.cms" />Ever heard of an OKCupid for dogs? Or a LinkedIn for pets? Surprised? Don’t be, because I have heard about a start-up pitching itself as the LinkedIn for pets. There have been many successful start-ups that started as X for Y and then evolved their business model as they grew. 
 
I am not a strong supporter of entrepreneurs pitching their ventures as X for Y as it kills the sense of innovation and originality, and creates more of a copycat or me-too feeling. Having said that and no more on the pitching part, the X for Y formula still holds water when it comes to presenting new business ideas and giving a sense of direction to new initiatives. 
 
So how does one leverage this formula? There are two ways of doing it when you want to develop your own business idea. In the first case, take a small part out of a bigger business plan and create a niche around it. Out of a large customer base, try to target a segment with slightly different (or special) needs and build a service or product around these needs. 
 
For example, OLX.in allows posting ads for almost everything under the sun. But there might be a specific set of customers with slightly different needs. For instance, there could be people who want to sell or buy antiques. Therefore, one can create a platform for posting ads to sell or buy these collectibles. Now what we have is a business idea that can be called OLX for antiques. Once the core is in place, the bells and whistles can be added as per customer requirements and additional features can be developed, depending on early adopters’ response. 
 
The second way is to start a parallel business. If there is an existing venture providing a service to a certain set of customers and one feels that there is another service that can be provided to the same set or a different set of customers, the solution is to create a ‘parallel’ business. Zomato, as we know it, is a review and rating platform for restaurants. A similar start-up can be a platform for reviewing and rating some other service providers. In fact, there is a start-up in India that rates private coaching institutes. So, here is an opportunity to start a Zomato for X, Y or Z. 
 
Before we overestimate the power of X for Y, I want to end on a note of caution. The X for Y formula should not be expected to churn out new business ideas. This is not as good or as easy as it sounds. Had it been so, generating business ideas would have been much easier than it is today. 
 
I find this formula to be more of an idea ‘incubator’ rather than an idea ‘generator.’ This means, it can more effectively help one incubate and grow an existing thought in a new space instead of generating a totally new business concept. Still, go ahead and try it out. 
 
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Harshdeep Rapal

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