Thanksgiving for AWS
On my list of things to be thankful for this holiday season is Amazon’s AWS cloud computing platform. While more and more companies adopt private clouds, especially larger enterprises, AWS has helped countless small businesses migrate to the Cloud, save, be more efficient and, ultimately, grow!
I saw an article in Slate that sang the praises of AWS in it mission to aid small businesses (AWS has 60% of the small business market and takes in estimated annual revenue of $650 million), and I thought some of the points were very salient. For one, there are a lot of small businesses that exist today online that wouldn’t if it wasn’t for AWS because the cost of entry is so low (and you only pay for what you use).
Also, it has received certification for a global security standard that sets out requirements for handling sensitive information, and AWS recently gave small businesses who want to start on the Cloud a free trial package.
AWS also has avoided developing a premium service, in deference to its mantra to remain accessible to the small fry. As Slate: ”It’s a do-it-yourself product, and many developers adore it for that very reason. Avoiding users who need technical handholding, AWS has built volume at a very low operating margin.”
But can AWS thrive on small business alone? No, according to a recent study by technology research and consulting firm Yankee Group. It found that 65% of entities with 250 employees or more favored tech integrators, outsourcers, hardware/software vendors such as Cisco, or communications service providers like telecoms. A much smaller 18% favored Amazon, which, Slate said, “might reflect the rift over public versus private cloud computing and the fact that many companies ultimately want to own their hardware and create their own clouds.”
Still, I’m grateful to AWS for its development of the Cloud platform — for the common business man and woman, the backbone of economic growth in North America and many regions around the world. In my cloud-based monitoring business, I see growing excitement among small businesses for computing on the Cloud, reducing costs and ensuring a quality experience for web shoppers.
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