Once a marketplace and technology grows, there are inclined to be a few big businesses which are generalists and also a second group of firms that offer niche variants of a technology.
For instance, have a look at dating sites, which I am using as an example as the sector is mature. The variables that signify adulthood comprise:
- Time in business (15+ years)
- Marketplace consolidation
- A minumum of one wave of dislocation (cellular telephone hookup uses like Tinder)
There are a few of well known brands, for example Match Group and eHarmony. In addition, there are heaps of quite particular, considerably more market dating sites you might not know of, like sites for:
- Gluten free singles
- Star Trek Fans
- Those seeking relationships with convicts
Many marketplaces naturally arrange themselves this way. I believe the cloud has entered into this pattern where there are a few big, well known and dominant players. For me, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google come to mind instantly. Ironically, they come to mind without even doing an online search on Google or Microsoft
The second grade is forming now and will comprise heaps of quite particular markets:
- High security cloud – -authorities, etc
- Hybrid cloud — some local, some distant
- High performance clouds — what we use super computers for now
- Nation special clouds – -for management, in the U.S. & EU and particularly outside the reach of U.S’s three-letter agencies.
- Child-friendly and conversely adult-only
So what exactly does this mean for your business?
To begin with, it means more applicable alternatives at better costs. In the event the big suppliers needed to manage each fringe request, they could not commoditize at their present ferocious rate. Additionally, it means that for a cost you’ll manage to use the cloud for virtually any demand.
Second, specialty and diversification will motivate businesses that used multiple suppliers to produce just one option that will cause some compatibility problems. Only the other day I had an issue with Azure not playing fine with Apple’s new drive telling supplier. Turns out there’s a security incompatibility between the two for one specific subsystem.
Taken to the extreme our systems may look more like a giant, multi-supplier, conglomeration of micro-services — but that is a conversation for another website.
Third, substantial suppliers will circle back and try and supply everything to maintain their control over the market. Microsoft is an example of this with its authorities cloud offering. I enjoy compatibility, but I actually don’t enjoy too much market control, and the leading suppliers are becoming quite close to market dominance that’s place firms in the past under the examination of the US and EU anti monopoly provisions.
Recently the approach has changed from “should I consider the cloud” to “how do I get to the cloud.” There are still lots of systems which are caught right where they’re because of some kind of technical or legal block. Not for much more. Shortly, these second-tier suppliers will remove the last blocks, and then we’ll be on to another issue to solve in IT.