By Bill Saltys, Senior Vice President, Alliances at Apps Associates

What to Expect from Oracle, AWS and Hybrid Cloud

Cloud computing defined this decade. In the past 10 years, we've seen cloud computing adopted by leading brands in efforts to remain competitive, while cloud-native companies transformed into some of the largest digital businesses in the world. Recent research found that 94 percent of IT decision makers agreed that moving to cloud would make things easier for their organizations, while 86 percent have mandated adopting a cloud migration strategy. As we face a new decade, cloud has become the status quo.             

Still, many organizations haven't yet adopted cloud holistically across their entire business. Many have chosen to employ a hybrid cloud model, preferring to maintain direct control over specific business-critical applications. This illustrates that critical momentum for cloud computing is still yet to come. With that in mind, here are my 2020 predictions for cloud computing as it relates to Oracle, Hybrid cloud and AWS.

• Oracle will focus on applications (SaaS) as their growth engine in the cloud: Oracle recently stated that they're planning to hire 2K employees in 2020. With this, we'll see their aggressive growth continue in the cloud, both in applications and infrastructure. Specifically, we will see Oracle continue to focus on their full suite of applications, including EPM, SCM, ERP and HCM. These SaaS applications are uniquely powerful, offering Oracle a "secret sauce" for cloud success. We'll also see bundling of product to make it easier for customers to buy licenses and implement new functionality. Finally, I expect to see improved automation for products like autonomous data warehouse and cloud infrastructure - making them easier to maintain.
  

With this rapid growth, Oracle will continue to invest in a workforce that is focused on user interface, application development using modern technologies (including AI, chatbots and digital assistants), industry-specific applications and a continued competitive focus again companies like SAP, Workday, Infor and AWS.

• Hybrid cloud will be around well past 2025: Public cloud adoption will no doubt continue to grow at a fast pace, but there are IT leaders within all organizations who will always question where to put workloads.Because of this, the hybrid model will be around forever - well past 2025.Why? Customers love having the ability to not be locked into one particular type of platform. Many are looking to avoid having all their business-critical systems tied up with one single vendor. While the adoption of public cloud is moving at a high rate, companies are still hesitant to lose that element of control over their technology stack, and elect to keep some of their most critical elements still on-premise or in the private cloud. In 2020, we'll continue to see hybrid cloud flourish, especially as IT costs will become more manageable for the hybrid cloud. We'll also see a continued focus on security from major public cloud vendors, as security remains the top concern for organizations who are hesitant to move their entire environment to the public cloud.
  

• AWS will continue to focus on innovation, working closely with partners to drive growth: Apps Associates has achieved Amazon Web Services Managed Service Provider (MSP) Partner Status for five consecutive years - so we are intimately familiar with that program. It's very clear it's evolving over time, with a more stringent application process as AWS becomes more exclusive in its approach to MSP partnerships. In 2020, we'll see emphases for the AWS MSP program on areas critical to cloud managed services including DevOps and automation, security, AI / machine learning and cost management.
  

As AWS continues to concentrate on innovation and product releases, we will also likely see an increased reliance on strategic partnerships for leverage and synergies in order to expand and, in some cases, protect erosion of market share. Partners in all forms (technology providers, ISVs, consulting and implementation service providers and cloud MSPs) are critical to create the flywheel needed for effective acceleration to capture as much market share as possible while expansion and growth continue.  

As cloud adoption matures, organizations are tackling legacy workloads and recognizing the benefits enabled by cloud such as performance, agility and cost savings. We're seeing increased demand and volume of customers asking about that Oracle environment that figuratively, if not literally, remains in the corner of the data center. Based on these market indicators as well as supporting analyst forecasts and survey data, I expect 2020 will be a bellwether year of accelerated adoption and transformation for these critical workloads. 2020 is the year that cloud adoption of these legacy environments truly becomes transformative.

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About the Author

Bill Saltys is Senior Vice President, Alliances. Bill is responsible to drive the strategic direction of a cross-functional program across Apps Associates focused on customer value through alliances with industry leaders that will enable cloud adoption, transformation and managed services. Prior to joining Apps Associates, Bill held executive and senior management positions within the high technology sector in both entrepreneurial firms and Fortune 500 companies such as Texas Instruments and Digital Equipment Corporation in the areas of strategic planning & engineering.