In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, the allure of a cloud-first strategy has captivated many organizations. The promise of flexibility, scalability, and cost efficiency makes cloud adoption an enticing prospect. However, beneath the surface, significant challenges and hidden costs can turn this strategy into a costly and, ultimately, failed endeavor.
The Reality of Supply Chain Operations
As a supply chain technology company, we bring more than just theoretical insights—we have years of hands-on operational experience in manufacturing plants, warehouses, and distribution centers. And if there’s one undeniable truth we’ve learned, it’s this: whether the computer is down, the internet is down, we cant print, the job still has to get done.
The Forgotten Value of Contingency Planning
As supply chain professionals we have always had contingency plans. If a system went down, we didn’t stop working—we adapted.
- In warehouses and distribution centers, there was always a master inventory printout. If the system failed, we switched to manual processes. The trucks still rolled out—perhaps a bit slower—but operations never came to a halt.
- In manufacturing plants, we printed work orders, pick lists, and routings in advance. A system failure didn’t shut down production—at worst, an administrator worked overtime to reconcile transactions once the system was back up.
But today, we’re seeing this resilience eroded by companies that have gone all-in on SaaS-based logistics and cloud-only solutions that do not account for risks supply chain professional know exist.
The Reality of Cloud-First Dependency
In 2024 alone, we saw six major internet outages that affected major companies business operations—in some cases major companies were unable to access their cloud providers forcing them to scramble for workarounds just to move shipments. This is not acceptable and will only get worse as companies continue to buy into the cloud first mantra at the expense of operational continuity.
We recently witnessed firsthand trucks sitting idle—unable to be loaded or unloaded—simply because companies had tied some part of their logistics infrastructure to cloud availability.
This is not acceptable. And as businesses continue buying into the cloud-first mantra at the expense of operational continuity, the problem will only get worse.
A Marketing-Driven Narrative, Not a Business Strategy
Cloud-first, mobile-first, and similar strategies are marketing-driven initiatives, not true business strategies. The appropriate approach to any technological shift should be:
1. Understand business requirements and operational needs.
2. Evaluate available solutions objectively.
3. Determine the best-fit technology—whether cloud, on-premises, or hybrid.
Yet, today’s prevailing mindset seems to be: “Ignore the requirements and move everything to the cloud.” This shift is largely fueled by cloud vendors who benefit from running a customer’s systems and controlling their access.
To further drive cloud adoption, some companies restrict key features to cloud-only versions—not because they can’t provide them for on-premises software, but because they want to push businesses toward their cloud ecosystem.
The result? Organizations find themselves locked into cloud-based solutions that are inefficient, costly, and poorly suited for their actual needs.
The answer is simple: Forced cloud adoption benefits vendors, not customers.
Conclusion: A Balanced Approach Is Key
A cloud-first strategy may offer advantages, but it is not a universal solution. For many organizations, hybrid or on-premises solutions provide greater control, reliability, and cost efficiency.
With increasing internet unreliability and rising cloud costs, organizations must rethink blind cloud adoption and instead:
Evaluate All Options: Compare cloud, on-premises, and hybrid solutions based on real business needs—not marketing hype.
Consider Long-Term Costs: Factor in migration expenses, vendor lock-in risks, and operational dependencies.
Prioritize Business Requirements: Technology choices should align with actual business needs, not trends dictated by cloud vendors.
A successful IT strategy is custom-tailored, not dictated by a one-size-fits-all cloud mandate. Instead of chasing buzzwords, businesses must take a pragmatic, strategic approach to technology adoption, ensuring long-term sustainability and success.
Phillip Avelar is a Managing partner at Advanced Solutions, based in Chicago. He works with SAP enterprises to optimize their supply chains, increase productivity and challenges the status quo. He shares his passion for solving customers problems in his blog posts, industry articles and conference talks.