With big cloud services
comes big cloud responsibilities. There is a lot to consider when choosing a
cloud service provider, like where to put your data, how much should be moved
to the cloud and, the most important question for many, how much will it cost?
Historically, there has been a perception of cloud being a
locked-in environment where data can be migrated to the cloud easily, but very
difficult to get out when it’s time to move to an alternative provider.
Kate Mollett, Africa regional manager at cloud data
management leader Veeam, believes that this key issue can be addressed with a
multi-cloud strategy.
“Initially, the South African market was a little more
guarded in how they adopted cloud solutions. We saw a more accelerated
journey outside of South Africa initially, but as the cloud model became more
of a trusted standard, the market is now far more willing to onboard to the
cloud and there’s strong growth.”
Cloud storage providers, like Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web
Services (AWS), have embraced the South African data market, by opening or
planning proprietary data centres in the country.
“Services like AWS and Azure are real oxygen for Veeam,”
says Mollett, speaking on the sidelines of the Cisco Connect conference at Sun
City. “We’ve got such a strong story about how companies can move their data
easily in an environment in the cloud by having a multi-cloud strategy and how
you can bring your data back on-premise. All of these tasks need to be easy to
do and Veeam makes it easy.”
Veeam was founded just over 10 years ago and initially
focused on dominating the VMware backup market and servicing the cloud needs of
small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).
“The Veeam SME engine remains very
slick,” says Mollett. “It has certainly been the sweet spot of the business for
the first eight years. If you consider in Southern Africa, we have 4000 logos
and many of them are in the small to medium space. We became very good at
servicing that engine through the partner community.
“However, as the Veeam
solution has matured from just being the protection of virtual environments to
physical environments, data in the cloud as well as the introduction of Veeam
solutions for Cisco, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft and other enterprise systems, the
solution has evolved into a true enterprise data management solution.
“We’ve seen a lot of
growth because of what’s happening in the enterprise regulatory environment.
The fact that enterprise is now more open to modern solutions like cloud and
innovation around digitalisation, has provided us with an easier path for us to
have a meaningful conversation.”
She says Veeam relieves
the pain points and concerns that businesses may have with adopting cloud
technology.
“The challenge
customers have always had is: when I put the data there, how do I get it back?
There’s been this perception in the market. And how do you trust that it’s
secure and protected in the cloud? Also, when companies change their strategy
because they’ve outgrown one provider and need to go to another, how do they
move their data to the next cloud service provider?
“In the Veeam Cloud
& Service Provider solution, we enable our customers to put their data in
one provider’s cloud, and with the ease of a few clicks, have the ability to point the data
connection to another provider’s cloud. Another move could be bringing the data
back on premise. We provide the ease of data mobility and this follows our own
defined mission statement of being the leading cloud data management company.
“A lot of companies
don’t want to play Hotel California with their data. This solution is giving
customers the confidence that they’re not locked in. We’ve made it easier for
customers to move that data around.”
Veeam’s set of
Availability Solutions has matured to cater to the enterprise space, while
remaining personalised enough for various enterprise requirements.
“There’s a definite
education element to these new technologies,” says Mollett. “Most organisations
that you talk to now have either got a defined strategy around AWS or Azure,
sometimes both, or they’re considering other cloud service providers in the
country. There tends to be a multi-cloud strategy in most of the large
enterprises.
“There
are many enterprise features and functionality to the solution and that talks
directly to a different customer set. The organisation has been transitioning
quite successfully into that enterprise market. When you start to build a sales
campaign around the financial services industry versus SMEs, it’s a different
engagement, the requirements are different and the stakes are higher.”
