CXO Insight Middle East - November 2019

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Last month, we hosted a roundtable event to discuss the state of cloud adoption in the region. After speaking to CIOs from a wide range of verticals, including government, banking, and healthcare, I was quite surprised to learn that cloud is finally having its moment in the region. The fact that hyperscalers have a local presence now has instilled confidence, and the number of companies looking to move their whole IT stack to the cloud is quite high. Also, the increased competition has resulted in a price war, and the users have a lot more choice now – from mega cloud providers to local service providers. Has the cloud era truly dawned upon us now? Maybe not because there are still some issues that need to be ironed out by the industry. When the cloud hype was cranked up to maximum, one of its biggest selling points was cost. However, now many users have realized the cloud is not always exactly cheaper, and it is time the cloud industry stopped marketing cost efficiency as the leading factor. Instead, what the cloud providers need to focus is on the kind of operational efficiencies and flexibility it offers to users, and it is almost always better than an on-prem alternative.