By Tushar Dhawan, Partner, Plus91Labs
Enterprise software is undergoing a significant revolution. SaaS platforms have long been the go-to solution for scalability as well as efficiency – offering standardised tools across various functions. Yet, as industries face growing complexity and stricter regulatory demands, this one-size-fits-all approach is no longer sufficient. Organisations in sectors like healthcare, banking, and manufacturing now demand solutions that are not just efficient but also developed according to their specific operational and compliance needs.
This evolution has given rise to industry clouds, platforms that combine the scalability of SaaS with deep domain expertise, prebuilt compliance frameworks, and workflows tailored to each industry. Their emergence marks a remarkable shift. From horizontal and generic tools to verticalised platforms, industry clouds truly speak the language of the sectors they serve.
Why Generic SaaS Falls Short in the Contemporary Market
The public cloud market has expanded at a rapid pace – driven by demands for speed, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven innovation. Yet as adoption grows, organisations are recognising the limitations of generic platforms.
Highly regulated sectors, especially, face three persistent issues. First, generic clouds often lack embedded compliance frameworks to meet requirements. Second, the challenge persists with interoperability. This is because SaaS platforms do not seamlessly embed with fragmented legacy systems plus multi-vendor ecosystems. Finally, generic architectures rarely align with industry-specific workflows and data models, forcing costly customisations and delaying value realisation.
These gaps have accelerated the move toward industry clouds—platforms purpose-built to combine general cloud strengths with domain-specific applications, compliance features, and data models.
Industry Clouds: The Convergence of Flexibility and Expertise
Industry cloud platforms bring together SaaS, platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) into cohesive solutions aligned to vertical markets. Rather than requiring organisations to build from scratch or heavily customise generic platforms, industry clouds arrive with prebuilt data models, workflows, and compliance frameworks designed around specific industry needs. This blend of flexibility along with specialisation helps enterprises reduce costs and accelerate time-to-value, while modernising without unnecessary complexity.
Security and compliance are built into every layer, which is particularly critical for regulated sectors. By embedding rules and standards directly into their frameworks, industry clouds reduce risk, simplify regulatory reporting, and support secure integration of advanced technologies such as AI, (Internet of Things) IoT, and edge computing.
Drivers Behind Adoption
In recent times, various factors have fuelled the adoption of industry clouds. Regulatory compliance remains at the forefront. This is particular to sectors like banking and healthcare, where sensitive data is the core of operations. Industry clouds integrate security and regulatory requirements into their architecture – reducing risk while simplifying adherence to standards.
Equally pivotal is the availability of prebuilt capabilities. Organisations no longer have to assign months for developing custom applications or workflows. Instead, they can leverage ready-to-use fraud detection in banking, automated claims processing in insurance, or interoperability tools in healthcare. This saves time, reduces implementation costs, and allows organisations to focus resources on innovation.
The rise of AI and generative AI is also fuelling adoption. Industry clouds provide secure environments for deploying AI applications, with features like encryption, anonymisation, and strong access controls built in. Also, emerging technologies, such as IoT and predictive analytics, are increasingly embedded into these platforms. This, in turn, helps in real-time monitoring, automation plus enhanced decision-making across sectors.
Industry Impact Across Verticals
The impact of industry clouds is already visible across multiple sectors. In healthcare, these platforms enable efficient content sharing, secure patient record management, and comply with regulations. Providers, administrators, and researchers can collaborate seamlessly, while patients benefit from digital tools that improve access to care, from signing documents remotely to receiving personalised health insights. Encryption and audit trails protect sensitive health information, ensuring compliance with stringent regulations.
In the financial services sector, operations are effectively reshaped by the integration of industry clouds. These clouds are integrating compliance into every layer of their architecture. Banking-specific platforms enable modernisation of payment systems, real-time transaction monitoring, and AI-powered fraud detection. Insurance providers leverage integrated analytics to improve underwriting accuracy, reduce manual inspections, and streamline claims processes. The result is a sector that can innovate faster while meeting the strict oversight of regulators.
Similarly, manufacturing enterprises are adopting industry clouds to optimise supply chains, implement predictive maintenance, and ensure product quality. By integrating IoT systems, manufacturers can now gain real-time insights about production lines. This further assists in reducing downtime while boosting efficiency. Not only this, but these platforms also support scalable infrastructure for resource-intensive processes. They effectively bridge legacy systems with modern applications to drive Industry 4.0 transformations.
Additionally, retailers are also adopting cloud platforms to improve customer engagement and operational efficiency. From cutting-edge point-of-sale solutions to seamless omnichannel commerce platforms, industry clouds are defining the modern retail experiences. These platforms allow personalised shopping, predictive inventory and effective loyalty programs. By leveraging a blend of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS, they facilitate smooth, integrated operations for businesses navigating the digital era.
The Future of Industry Clouds
The growth course of industry clouds is significant. Gartner projects that by 2027, more than 70 per cent of enterprises will use these platforms. Their appeal lies in the balance of general cloud benefits—scalability, agility, cost efficiency—with sector-specific value that drives innovation and compliance.
Future trends point toward even greater specialisation. Industry clouds will incorporate AI-driven personalisation, sustainability tracking tools, and blockchain-enabled transparency to enhance trust and traceability. In sectors like supply chain management, these capabilities are poised to transform operations – offering both efficiency and accountability.
On the whole, the rise of industry clouds signals a decisive shift away from generic SaaS platforms. By embedding compliance, sector-specific workflows together with prebuilt data models, they limit customisation costs and accelerate value. In addition, they also support scalability in ways horizontal tools cannot.
As enterprises in healthcare, BFSI, manufacturing, and beyond continue to adopt these tailored platforms, the age of one-size-fits-all SaaS is fading. The future of enterprise technology lies in industry clouds that are verticalised, intelligent, and compliant – platforms designed not only to drive digital transformation, but to reflect the distinct context of every industry they support.