Buying powerful technology is expensive. The most powerful tools are considered enterprise-grade because only large businesses can afford them. However, more and more companies are discovering that renting powerful technology is cheap. Cloud computing allows these smaller businesses to wield enterprise-level tools at a fraction of the cost, and that’s unleashing untold innovation, according to Gaurav Dhillon (pictured), chairman and chief executive officer of SnapLogic Inc.

To shed a little light on the subject of cloud-based software and services, Dhillon stopped by theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile live-streaming studio, during the BigData SV event in San Jose, CA. (*Disclosure below.)

“What we see as the primary driver of our business is a digital transformation at the boardroom level,” Dhillon told Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick) and George Gilbert (@ggilbert41), co-hosts of theCUBE.

Upgrade, replace or rent?

Previously, the business driver was a new world of data warehousing. Now, that balance has tipped to about 50-50 between applications and storage, Dhillon explained. This shift illustrates that more companies are willing to trust their mission-critical applications to the cloud. This follows a trend seen in media companies — a shift away from legacy data warehousing. These companies want to use machine learning and other capabilities through the cloud to lower their costs.

This move toward the cloud is powered by more than just cheaper services. Businesses must upgrade their legacy systems to stay competitive, but why simply upgrade the old thing when a whole new, modern system is only a little more? Instead of merely upgrading their legacy systems, companies are choosing a cloud-based service platform that lets them automate their success, Dhillon said.

“How do you make out of many, one?” he asked.

The answer was to centralize on a cloud-based platform that can provide the necessary applications in a Software-as-a-Service model. On their side, cloud providers understand all these services must work together. By taking advantage of these integrated services, businesses only need to build around their core competencies; everything else can be bought through the cloud, Dhillon concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of BigData SV 2017. (*Disclosure: Some segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE are sponsored. Sponsors have no editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE