Introduction
Today, the cloud powers all major industries. Both small and large businesses are moving their workloads to the cloud. One of the main reasons for this shift is because it’s easier to set up and maintain than traditional on-premise infrastructure. Cloud has slowly but consistently become an integral part of the modern IT scenario. As more and more businesses embrace the cloud, there is a steady increase in demand for public cloud services.
Many start-ups today are looking for ways to become a part of the booming cloud business industry. Even certain industry segments such as telcos, ISPs and data centres are diversifying their offerings to include cloud infrastructure services. Even though the hyperscale cloud providers will always be there, their local reach is quite limited due to data localisation norms and the market sizes that aren’t large enough for them to operate effectively in these areas.
If you are thinking of starting a regional public cloud service, this is a good time to begin and create customized cloud services that cater to the needs of enterprises and businesses locally.
How do you start a cloud business?
Getting started with a cloud business requires the right mix of technology and solution partners, to begin with. If you are ready to take the plunge here is a quick list of things you will need to get you started. We have also put together a detailed blog on mantras for building a successful cloud business for your reference.
Here are some highlights from the blog to get you started:
- Leverage open-source technology to help you keep your input costs low and build a competitive business case.
- Proprietary stacks from leading IT vendors appear very promising initially but in the long run, they lock you into their ecosystem, leading to a lack of innovation and escalating costs.
- Going beyond IaaS, offer a digital marketplace to extend your services to offer PaaS and SaaS.
- Build your cloud to address maximum use cases.
- If you are a telco or an ISP, you would already have a strong B2B network business. You should leverage the same by offering Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) as an extension of your IP-VPN/MPLS/SD-WAN services.
How much is it going to cost?
While diversifying services and getting started with a cloud business, expenses are the first thought on our minds. This is exactly why local ISPs, telcos and data centres are best suited to take up this opportunity. They have the required infrastructure that creates a strong foundation for building a cloud setup. They also have strong existing relationships with many businesses and customers which works to their advantage while selling their cloud offerings. They already possess the key assets required to provide cloud services – a broad base of enterprise customers, data centre space and an extensive internet backbone.
If you would like to understand the costs of initial setup, timelines for operational breakeven and capital breakeven, you can read our detailed post on The Economics of an In-country Cloud Business.