Imperatives for cloud platforms
November 11, 2020
November 11, 2020
The pandemic has provided a poignant reminder of the power of cloud technology. When COVID-19 hit suddenly and unexpectedly, systems resilience, agility, adaptability, and scalability were the fundamental capabilities needed by governments, businesses, and other organizations to navigate the crisis. Certain segments needed to scale immediately to meet explosions in demand (e.g., telemedicine, videoconferencing, and eCommerce), while others struggled to right-size their businesses faced with near-overnight elimination of demand (e.g., live events & entertainment, travel, and ridesharing).
Cloud platform companies have been central in helping businesses manage these impacts. Collaboration platforms have allowed workforces to stay connected and operational, even under lockdown. Socially, too, they have provided a crucial bridge between friends and family who would otherwise have been left isolated by social distancing. Cloud infrastructure has enabled businesses to scale without adding proportionate incremental costs.
Amid this rapidly evolving landscape, cloud platforms continue to invest aggressively in capacity and innovation as they jockey for market share and work to accelerate their clients’ digital transformations. While most cloud platforms will likely see revenues grow, there is a race to land large enterprise IT and data estates due to the long-term challenges and costs associated with migration.
Spend on cloud infrastructure is soaring, reaching $29 billion in the first quarter of 2020. Enterprise leaders are investing heavily in their product catalogs and partner ecosystems. Traditional consumer-facing platforms are looking to capitalize on their size and develop solutions that put them squarely in competition with hyperscalers.
Cloud Platform Market Share Q1 2020
In short, competition is fierce between market-leading cloud platforms and challengers as they jockey for market position within this landscape.
In the context of this battle for market position, cloud platforms are working to address a number of key challenges in the near term:
Read Accenture’s report to get the recommended actions and improvements that combine to create a compelling value case for the next wave of cloud platform growth.
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