In the field of business computing, there is much hype regarding private, public and hybrid clouds. However, with the concept of the multi-cloud for IT services fast gaining popularity, all this will change soon.
What is multi-cloud?
A multi-cloud strategy is a cloud computing strategy, which uses multiple clouds and cloud services in a single heterogeneous architecture. In simple terms, multi-cloud refers to the distribution of cloud assets, software, applications, etc., across several cloud-hosting environments.
Multi-cloud architecture utilizes two or more public clouds. More than being a technology, it is a strategy. If a company uses more than one cloud or cloud provider, the company is said to be using multi-cloud architecture.
The main objective of having a multi-cloud environment is to eliminate the dependence on any single cloud provider. Unlike the hybrid cloud, which refers to multiple deployment modes, multi-cloud architecture refers to multiple cloud services. In a multi-cloud environment, the completion of the computation process does not require synchronization between different vendors.
What is the suitability of service providers offering multi-cloud environments in emerging markets?
Emerging markets such as Africa, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and the Middle East offer unparalleled growth opportunities for service providers. The absence of global players like AWS, Google and Azure or their weak presence make it ideal for a strong local player to get into their domain and establish a dominant framework within the country.
Local businesses in emerging markets require various cloud-based services and existing companies in the telecommunication, data centre, email hosting and the likes are ideally suited to expand their service offerings by providing multi-cloud services to their local end customers.
These services could range from offering cloud environments under IaaS or PaaS to expanding their existing businesses to other cloud services including and not limited to email hosting, hosting space or data centre support.
By virtue of being present locally, the ability to support enterprise customers to move into a multi-cloud environment is high in emerging markets.
What are the sweet spots for service providers to offer multi-cloud in emerging markets?
- They can provide local cloud services on the lines of what Google, Amazon or Azure offer. Local businesses could move their enterprise web-based applications to the cloud and leverage multi-cloud environment to manage data, work-loads and customer subscriptions seamlessly all at a very local level.
- Services providers could offer Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) as a service offering to local enterprises with stronger local support. Local enterprises could move their on-premise data centres to the cloud, networks and computing services.
- Service providers could also provide services that complement what global cloud service providers like AWS, Google or Microsoft Azure offer through Kubernetes which allow businesses to orchestrate deployment and management of resources in a multi-cloud public environment.
- Even in geographies where there is strong local presence of AWS, Google or Azure, service providers could become local partners of these companies with their presence in specific countries and improve their revenue sources.
In the cloud space, multi-cloud has become a norm really quickly and service providers are rightly placed in emerging markets to become the main provider for multi-cloud.
Though the approach looks complex in terms of management and adoption, there are solutions like the Apiculus platform that have been designed to overcome these challenges. With a dynamic and up-to-date catalogue, providers can easily stay ahead of the curve.
Offer your enterprises a multi-cloud portfolio with Apiculus
Apiculus is a well-known intuitive and scalable cloud platform that enables telecom companies, data centre operators and cloud, managed or internet service providers to deliver a multi-cloud portfolio to their enterprise customers. Alongside, Apiculus also offers an integrated set of solutions to incorporate monetization and management capabilities on popular open source and commercially available cloud technologies It helps the companies successfully build and operate a cloud business.
The platform helps you automate the entire process of engaging and managing the customers, right from their registration to onboarding and even in sales and support. The marketing features allow users to create and offer promotions, coupons, and discounts and launch account-based marketing campaigns.
Kshitish is a ‘startup expert’ and has been involved with early stage startups, seeing various phases of growth, for more than 15 years. A specialist in Product Management, User Experience, Technology and Product Growth/Strategy, Kshitish is a seasoned entrepreneur with deep expertise in building enterprise products and horizontal/vertical SaaS. Kshitish did his PG in Product Design from NID, Ahmedabad.