The demand for managed cloud and professional services has increased in the Asia Pacific region as businesses look to move complex big data workloads such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) to the cloud.
New research from analyst firm, Frost & Sullivan suggests that the expansion of open-source technologies and advances in application programming interface (API)-accessible single-tenant cloud servers have also helped promote acceptance towards managed private cloud providers.
As a result, the firm predicts that “immense monetisation opportunities” will come for partners competing in the managed cloud space, where they can differentiate themselves by offering a robust end-to-end portfolio of cloud services, network connectivity, and security solutions.
Specifically, it said systems integrators and telecommunication companies can leverage their strength in managed hosting and familiarities with enterprises’ “touchpoints” to compete in the managed cloud space.
In addition, cloud system integrators can offer end-to-end cloud offerings, integrating capabilities supporting connected industries, according to the firm.
Also, Frost & Sullivan said a cloud brokerage model can be adopted by many companies, but service providers need to first build a strong commercial and technical model covering the identification, negotiation, and management of partners and customers.
The firm also suggested service providers could also consider offering niche, secure and compliance-driven solutions, especially in verticals requiring cloud compliance expertise such as healthcare, banking and finance.
Additionally, Frost & Sullivan said it was noteworthy that the “Big 3” public cloud vendors – Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google – are emerging as heavyweights in the cloud ecosystem due to their compelling “high-volume, low-margins” business models.
It added that this meant competing in the managed cloud space also allows service providers to avoid head-on competition with the “Big 3” public cloud services providers.
“Scale ranks lower in importance in private cloud as infrastructure sharing is largely confined within the enterprise network, thereby making private clouds compelling as competitive strategies for cloud vendors,” Frost & Sullivan data centre and cloud computing industry analyst Yu Xuan Ng said.
“With most vendors viewing the public cloud as a red ocean, competition in the private cloud space will only pick up pace.”
The firm also pointed to the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and said the cloud is instrumental in enabling IoT applications to be developed and delivered.
In addition, it added that more enterprises in APAC were also redesigning their networks and deploying cloud services to deal with the explosion of data.
“Over the next three to five years, the APAC cloud market will gravitate towards a hybrid deployment model, which is part premises based and part cloud based,” Yu Xuan noted.
“Cloud vendors, for their part, will work on developing cloud-native ICT environments that support IoT, big data analytics, and mobile solutions.”
