ABSTRACT
Creative destruction is an ongoing process that drives innovation to better serve markets to gain business advantage and drive profitability. Cloud computing enables another wave of creative destruction to sweep across industry as enterprises reconfigure their information value chains. This chapter considers the cloud as a driver of creative destruction in the following sections: containerization as an analog for cloud computing, strategic benefits of cloud computing, tactical benefits and strategic directions, and other catalyzing factors. Cloud computing offers the following potential strategic benefits to cloud service customer (CSC) organizations: aggressive automation and pulling humans out of the loop, from supply push to demand pull, perfect capacity management, aggressive cost management, rich and dynamic service value chains, and shifting capital and risk. Like cloud computing, the wholesale market for electric power also features standardized product offerings, efficient markets, and powerful information systems. CSC operates in a rich and dynamic ecosystem.
