Cloud Answers The Call When IT Is Faced With Supply Shortages
Globalized supply chains, under normal circumstances, can save time and cost for consumers and manufacturers alike. But if a mishap disrupts production at one location, it can start a chain reaction and halt production at several other locations. The impact will keep magnifying as the shortages reach further down the supply chain.
The pandemic triggered global supply chain shortages due to the temporary trade restrictions, staff shortages, and the resulting demand hikes. Even now, as everything is finally opening back up, following a decline in infection rates in different parts of the world, the supply chain shortages are expected to continue for the next couple of years, at least.
The Microchip Shortage and Its Consequences
Most notably, the global chip shortage made headlines as it caused delays in production across industries. Consumers were forced to wait for cars, PCs, home appliances, wearables, and other personal devices that were affected by the chip shortage. Intel’s CEO, Pat Gelsinger, believes that the chip shortage could last a few years. And as chipmakers struggle to ramp up production, the shortage will probably get even worse, around the holiday season, before it finally starts getting better.
And it’s not just personal devices and automobiles that have taken the worst hit. Some datacenter hardware components have as much as a 52-week lead time. So what options do companies have in the meantime? Unless they’re willing to put many time-critical projects at pause for months on end, they should consider shifting to the cloud as a viable alternative.
Cloud Computing May Be the Answer
Migrating projects to the cloud can allow companies to utilize the resources of the cloud as needed without purchasing hardware components. Once the additional resources are no longer needed, they can easily be de-provisioned to be made available for other cloud tenants. This multi-tenant architecture of the cloud can effectively keep critical workloads up and running during the global chip shortages.
What’s important to know here is that shifting to the cloud doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing move. Companies can decide which projects can, and should, shift to the cloud to allow in-house data center resources to be used for other critical projects that can’t be migrated to the cloud.
Making such decisions may need careful planning and dedicated resources, but in the end, leveraging the full power of the cloud is the only way to stay ahead of the consumer demands even during supply chain disruptions caused by trade wars, natural disasters, political upheaval, and economic turmoils. Partnering with cloud experts to conduct a cost-benefit analysis and manage the digital transformation can overcome many challenges and mitigate the risks associated with cloud migration.
Supply Chain Disruptions are Likely to Continue
At this point, after over a year of supply shortages, even small disruptions such as a power outage or a natural calamity at a single production unit can pass on a domino effect on the already struggling supply chains. Migrating to the cloud can give companies the much-needed resilience to ensure business continuity despite future supply chain disruptions which are bound to occur.
Moreover, security, scalability, and maintenance are already built into the cloud. So it’s not just the hardware supply delays that the cloud can effectively combat but also the staff and skills shortage that has been crippling the IT industry for a few years. Ultimately, only those companies with a cloud presence will be prepared to overcome future obstacles and protect their bottom line despite the global uncertainties.
