Even just a handful of years ago, cloud solutions were made to be generic and able to be adopted by any and all industries. It was the age of one size fits all. With lots of development and very customized solutions, they were clunky, but they worked...for a while. But as times have progressed and solutions have become tailored to specific industries, companies across verticals have realized the vast benefits of trusting a solution provider who really understands their space. Customers no longer want a generic solution that can be molded a million different ways. To reinforce the point of industry cloud companies on the rise, Forbes recently posted an article, which was penned by Gordon Ritter, cofounder and general partner at Emergence Capital.
The article is entitled "The Five Hallmarks of an Industry Cloud Company", and Gordon's point throughout couldn't be any clearer - industry cloud companies are experts in their space, and they've earned the right to play, and to play big.
Ritter lists the 5 key "hallmarks" of these industry cloud companies as:
- Talent Trifecta - They are domain expertise and players with deep industry knowledge that can apply the specific needs of the field to the solution itself.
- Deep Data - Ritter states "an industry focus makes it far more likely that cloud companies can turn data into meaningful insights for their customers. Why? This data comes from a more consistent customer use pattern, with similar technology and ability to compare across functional areas (sales, marketing finance, etc.)"
- Referral Revenues - People know people in the industry, and getting connected to others who would appreciate your solution or services after great work is delivered is not only efficient, but also very effective in the industry cloud space.
- Massive Market Share - Ritter says it best in his comment that "companies that focus on a specific vertical can achieve much greater penetration, often leading to a winner-takes-all environment."
- Layer Cake Product Strategy - No longer are industry cloud solutions super niche players. Rather, solutions can easily play with one another to integrate data from CRM systems, marketing automation systems, and other data-rich applications making these industry cloud solutions even more compelling. Ritter goes on to say "Between the broader penetration in each product line and the potential for far greater market share, industry cloud companies can grow much larger in the cloud era than during the preceding client-server period."
Industry cloud solutions like hc1.com, which specializes in healthcare technology solutions, has created its own category of Healthcare Relationship Management. hc1.com's solution is being adopted by some of the nation's largest healthcare entities. The rise of solutions like hc1.com makes complete sense - healthcare entities don't have time or money to customize cumbersome, generic systems. They want a solution that serves their needs and consultants that understand their lab, radiology practice, and health system space so well that they can be guided through the process.
The future is bright for industry cloud solution providers who provide true value, and hc1.com is excited to be part of the rapid growth.
