Johannesburg, 09 Oct 2015
Cloud service providers and traditional IT service providers making the transition to deliver cloud services in addition to traditional services will be a key factor in cloud adoption across emerging markets, says Veeam Software.
Mike Resseler, Veeam EMEA Microsoft Evangelist and Product Strategist, says emerging markets still lag more developed markets somewhat in terms of cloud adoption, but that these markets are also well positioned to leapfrog directly into the cloud era.
Veeam noted in its recent Data Centre Availability report that with emerging markets predicted to generate 40% of global growth in the next 15 years, this will make these emerging markets, their technologies and the competitiveness of their business increasingly important. "In the competitiveness discussion, time to market, availability and customer service are crucial, and this is where cloud comes in," says Resseler.
"We find most emerging market businesses considering cloud are driven primarily by cost concerns. But when we dive deeper, we find they ultimately want to improve services, and cloud can help ensure availability and disaster recovery, which is crucial in improving service delivery," he says.
However, while emerging market businesses may be keen to explore the potential business benefits of cloud, this is a relatively new and complex field. Questions arise around which cloud model to adopt, which workloads are best suited to the cloud environment, and how to transition to the cloud.
"We see a lot of emerging market enterprises adopting the hybrid model first, looking to move part of the data centre to the cloud for cost and efficiency gains. But many of them, particularly newer enterprises, are uniquely positioned to move quickly to public cloud because they are not held back by legacy systems and operational mindsets." The most important benefits of doing so, says Resseler, are cost savings, availability and application performance.
"There are significant benefits to be achieved, but we find many emerging market enterprises are not ready to embrace cloud alone. The major cloud providers are not able to provide the personal touch they need, which is why we see service providers adding a layer of relevant functionality and services to the cloud and supporting clients on this journey," he says. "Enterprises are looking to the sort of partners who traditionally delivered services on-premises to add cloud functionality and bring these two worlds together."
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