Cloud Providers Compete as The Market Closes in on $100B
At the close of the second quarter of 2019, the cloud market totaled around $23 billion, projecting a total market value before the end of the year getting to around $100 billion. The dominant player in the cloud computing market remains Amazon, with 33% of market share, but recent reports indicate that Microsoft is catching up to the online retail giant. Currently, Microsoft’s revenue from all its cloud interests is generating as much income as their traditional business interests. The suggestion is that Microsoft will aim to take more of the cloud market share from Amazon before the end of the year.
Microsoft does have a few issues to sort out if it intends to make this milestone a reality. Customers have complained about Microsoft’s customer service, which has, in turn, affected the company’s appeal to customers. Amazon’s customer service is far better, but Gartner has warned potential customers of AWS that they should beware of prices, competitive behavior, and new features on the AWS framework.
More Than Just Two Providers
While Microsoft and Amazon have a massive volume of market share between them, Google’s cloud service is also gaining some traction among companies. New CEO Thomas Kurian has tuned the company’s image to make it more attractive to enterprise-level customers. Smaller companies such as Gusto and Snowflake also have a significant share in the market. As an alternative to the massive providers, these smaller companies offer a less controlling framework for companies to create and use the cloud.
All of the players in the cloud market seem to have something to prove. Amazon holds firm to its home at the top of the roost, but with Microsoft and soon Google coming up behind it, it may need to take a look at how it does business. The cloud industry is no longer a one-horse race, and if the retail giant intends to hold its own as the most chosen cloud provider, it needs to address issues before it loses customers to the competition.
