During a hearing conducted by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), AWS claimed that it faces competition from on-premises IT. This statement challenges the widely held notion that once customers migrate to the cloud, they never return to on-prem solutions.
AWS argued that the CMA's investigation focuses too narrowly on cloud services, failing to account for their role within the broader IT services market. They provided examples of customers reverting to on-premises systems, asserting that such moves highlight the flexibility businesses have in managing their IT resources.
In response to AWS's claims, Civo’s CEO, Mark Boost, spoke with ITPro and stated that the hyperscaler is overselling the issue of cloud repatriation.
“AWS implies that it is facing major competition from enterprises moving applications back on-premise, despite the effort this data migration requires. They overstate the extent of this phenomenon.”
Boost acknowledged that it is true a number of cloud customers are moving back on-prem due to dissatisfaction with the offerings from major cloud providers. “In the face of this, on-prem and private cloud solutions are a stronger guarantor of data sovereignty.”
Regarding the CMA's approach, Boost cautioned against AWS's suggestion to broaden the investigation to encompass the entire IT services market.
“AWS’ suggestion that the CMA widen its cloud investigation to cover the IT services market as a whole will not change this. Expanding the scope so broadly at this stage will only dilute the investigation’s effectiveness.”
Boost emphasized that the CMA should concentrate on examining issues specific to the cloud, such as unfair cloud credit schemes, rather than redirecting its attention to customers who are simply seeking to maintain control over their data.
As the landscape of cloud services continues to evolve, it is essential to understand the nuances of competition within the industry. For more in-depth analysis on this topic, read the full article at ITPro.