Article quotes start with “--“

Who should I choose as my cloud service provider?



-- CRN’s Cloud Barometer survey asked solution providers to rate their satisfaction with the three leading cloud platforms … Survey respondents awarded Microsoft Azure with the highest overall satisfaction rating—giving it ­first-place ­finishes in product capabilities, pro­fitability and maturity of pricing.”

So, to be safe, pick Microsoft! The executives know them! But wait!

-- Meanwhile, AWS ranked No. 2 overall, winning the highest ratings in ease of integration and support for demand generation. 

That sure would make IT happy and get IT service faster, so let’s go with AWS! But wait!

-- There’s a good reason that Microsoft edged out its rivals in the survey results, according to #ReedWiedower … Their partner programs are much more mature …

Ok then, back to Microsoft. We can get more help from their partners! But wait!

-- All three vendors are investing heavily in their cloud platforms, from product updates to channel program enhancements.

Hmmm. It sounds like things may be changing. Maybe we should wait.

-- As of the first quarter of the year, AWS maintained its lead with a 32 percent share of enterprise spending in the cloud infrastructure services market, according to Synergy. By contrast, Microsoft Azure has leapt from an 11 percent share of the market four years ago to 20 percent market share today, the research firm said. And Google Cloud now has a 9 percent share of the market, up from 6 percent four years ago, according to Synergy.

So AWS is still the most popular, and with popularity comes more IT people familiar with the inner workings of AWS. So AWS it is! But wait!

-- While it’s possible to extend Active Directory into AWS, “you don’t get Azure AD,” said @ZachSaltzman, senior director for the Microsoft platform at FMT Consultants, a Microsoft Gold partner based in Carlsbad, Calif. “And Azure AD is this whole separate beast that brings a lot of productivity features and a lot of security features that no other cloud has.”

Security would LOVE this! And let’s face it, cyber security is hot now! But wait!

-- AWS’ greater scale also offers an advantage over competing clouds in numerous ways, AWS-focused solution providers told CRN. “With scale comes experience, knowledge, perfection of product and services,” said @EranGil, CEO of San Francisco-based AllCloud, an AWS Premier Consulting partner. “At scale, you get to a much better product.”

It sounds like we could grow and scale faster, and that would make marketing and sales happy! But wait!

-- And while those [open source] technologies are designed to be deployed on any infrastructure —including competing clouds—Google Cloud offers the best-engineered and most cost-effective solution for running them, the solution providers said. Google Cloud, @TonySafoian said, “invented the standards in which multi-cloud and hybrid cloud exist. I think AWS didn’t say the word ‘multi-cloud’ until last year.” 

Did I hear cheap? Finance would LOVE that! But wait!

IT, security, market, sales, finance, and executive – how do we make them ALL happy, and how do we know which cloud provider is the best for us today and in the future? We need to plan for this, but how?

But wait!

There is a solution! Cloud Asset Management. The Cloud Asset Manager brings together all parties with a vested interest in coming to the right decision for the organization. No surprises. No “I didn’t know!” Just a boring technology acquisition and adoption so you can focus on the exciting part – making the customer happy!

Cloud Asset Management is a core competency. Click here to learn more.