Can Cloud ICT Solutions Ease Data Exchange Headaches?

Information is the lifeblood of any business, but increasing volumes of raw data can cause operational headaches for organisations when they want to share or exchange that data.

The cloud is increasingly being recognised as a neat solution to this problem, and telecommunication carriers, with their extensive knowledge and background in this area, are ideally suited to resolve these data exchange issues.

NTT’s Enterprise Cloud Service

Take, for example, the partnership between NTT Communications Corp and Honda, the well known Japanese vehicle manufacturer.

Honda frequently uses 3D CAD (Computer-aided design) in order to develop and make its products, which can range from cars and motorcycles, right through to agricultural equipment, small jets and even robots. Honda discovered that it can be difficult to share this bulky CAD data with its suppliers. Indeed, in some regions where infrastructure is not well advanced, Honda had to resort to either physically printing out the data, or placing it on recorded media, then couriering it across to its suppliers.

It didn’t take long for Honda to recognise the need for a global data exchange system, and it turned to NTT Com with its global data centre portfolio and extensive network. By utilising NTT Com’s cloud, Honda greatly increased its file-sharing speed (it is now 14 times faster) and cut the time for adding branch offices by 90 percent.

This speed gain gave Honda greater agility and cost efficiency for its global product development, procurement, and production operations. Honda says that overall operational costs for data transfer, including the costs incurred on the supplier side, have been reduced by about 30 percent.

Besides aiding in large CAD data transfers, NTT’s cloud also hosts Honda’s online portal for its suppliers, and a globally available helpdesk ensures that any issues or problems are dealt with quickly and efficiently.

Examples like this starkly illustrate how targeted Cloud services from global ICT partners, can help many organisations resolve their data exchange issues and meet their ICT challenges going forward.