| | JULY 20208CIOReviewIN MY OPINIONUTILITIES MOVE TO THE CLOUD TO ENABLE SEAMLESS EFFICIENCY AND INNOVATIONBy Greg Richards, Vice President of Devops, Itron [NASDAQ: ITRI]In the rapidly evolving utility industry, it is vital to provide opportunities for innovation and idea sharing on a protected, efficient platform. Cloud services have created opportunities for the industry to harness an entirely new platform of information storage and sharing.Today, Chief Information Officers (CIOs) no longer ask if they should use the cloud, but rather how they can best take advantage of cloud services. Cloud computing is becoming more prevalent across all industries, and according to Cisco, more than 90 percent of workloads will be processed by cloud data centers by 2020. Utilities' needs are evolving and consumers are now demanding new services and offerings at a low cost. This transition to faster high-quality innovation at lower cost requires a new way of thinking.Enter cloud services: Combining on-demand computing and standardized tools, cloud services make it simple for utilities to run their operations without having to devote resources toward building and maintaining IT hardware and software. The cloud is the key to utility efficiency. It accelerates the time to innovate, increases reliability, and lowers costs.Accelerated Time to InnovationThe speed of innovation with cloud computing puts traditional software development at a serious competitive disadvantage. Software applications can be developed more quickly and reliably in a cloud environment. For utilities, this means getting the software features they need and meeting their customers' demand in months instead of years.Cloud computing is the next logical step in the IT evolution. It enables utilities to quickly adapt to better serve their customers
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