Reasons why IBM cloud is not as popular as AWS, Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure

Cloud, cloud and cloud everywhere. Everyone is talking about cloud. All the big enterprises are moving their data and processes on the cloud. (And if you are an enterprise and still not on cloud then better move to cloud before its too late). When we talk about major cloud players in the market we hear about AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure. IBM does not even qualify in the top list in most of the internet articles on cloud which we read.

Before we jump into conclusion that IBM should be considered a top player as a Cloud service provider, we should consider some facts. Lets compare some figure for Revenue generated by the key players for providing cloud services for the year 2019.

1. Google Cloud: $8.918 Billion.
2. AWS: $35.026 Billion.
3. Microsoft Azure: $33.7Billion.
4. And Finally IBM Cloud: $21.2 Billion.

Why is IBM Cloud so underrated?

PS: These are my opinions about IBM and does not reflect the organisation point of view.

Well, IBM has been underrated as a cloud provider by the public in the domain of cloud. (Does not really matter to IBM as long as it is doing business and earning from it). I want to highlight few things which I think are the reasons for these. These are as follows:

1. Less Marketing for IBM Cloud:

AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure has made themselves available for local public to access it easily and to use it. We don’t hear so much about IBM cloud being discussed by the start-ups or small medium enterprise software houses. People proudly talk about Google, AWS or Azure, but this is not the case for IBM. With the latest acquisition of Red Hat by IBM, IBM is now confidently pushing their cloud services to the public, and doing marketing of its own. But still, its marketing has less presence over the internet as compared to the other three.

2. IBM play on high league:

IBM provide its services to most of the Fortune 500 companies globally, so does its cloud offering. This is where most of its revenues are coming from. IBM doesn’t need to market its services online but still it is doing it, just for the sake of having online presence of its services. (My point of view). Before the launch of its public offerings in April 2011, IBM claimed that 80% of the fortune 500 companies are using IBM Cloud. IBM works with big guys and seems like it does not want to show off either. Having said that, in some of the cases it has made its client case studies public for others to learn from.

3. IBM Cloud has joined the party late:

Truth be told that IBM cloud have entered the public cloud market little later then others, but because of Red Hat acquisition, it got the boost it required.

1. AWS Launched date: August 2006
2. Microsoft Azure Launched date: February 1, 2010
3. Google Cloud Launched date: April 7, 2008
4. Finally IBM Cloud Launched date: April 7, 2011 by the name Smart Cloud Enterprise.

4. Internal Implementation:

Other reason for it not being so popular among the public is that it has its own set of engineers, technology experts who do implementations for their clients. IBM have its own implementation teams. It also has physical presence in around +-175 countries around the globe. If IBM have such a big workforce then to do business, it need to get access to the big guys to get their work. This is what IBM is doing. IBM does not need to go to small medium software houses for their implementations. Though IBM has a business model which allow other business partners to do its implementation. The reason which I observed is that IBM do specific implementations specific to clients requirements and this model may suit IBM do their business. This is not only limited to IBM cloud but also other services it offers. This is one reason IBM charges premium on its services. With other providers, such as AWS, Google and Microsoft, they have set standards of implementations with good documentations and support that they offer and anyone with minimum knowledge can come, learn and implement. IBM services are designed to cater specific use cases. This is another reason why IBM cloud and other services are not that popular among the masses compared to the other giants.

These are the few points which I thought are the reason for IBM not being as popular as the others. Having said that, IBM cloud in general and its implementation was, is and will be a success story for IBM itself with the growth of 11% from 2018 to 2019. And it is still number 1 choice for fortune 500 companies for its services. Gartner has forecasted worldwide Public Cloud Revenue to grow 17% in 2020. With the Red Hat acquisition and introduction of IBM Cloud Pak, IBM can expect to have a bright future in the coming years. And I hope it will have enough popularity as the other big players because IBM deserve it.

Cheers!!!!!!