INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cloud
Why ‘cloud isn’t just something
you buy, but something you do’
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Envisioning a world without cloud seems ludicrous in today’s
modern age. Claude Schuck, Regional Manager, Veeam
Software, discusses the benefits of cloud-driven operations
and tells us how this type of modern technology offers true
scalability for businesses.
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Can you tell us about some of the
disadvantages of not operating in
the cloud?
I remember talking about the cloud last year
and it was a bit premature, but the Middle
East has come that far in a year and the
reason is because in the last year, we’ve
seen bricks and mortar in Bahrain with AWS,
we’ve seen bricks and mortar with Azure in
Abu Dhabi and Dubai. So, customers now
– specifically big customers – are looking
to the scale and cost-effectiveness of that.
We’re seeing a huge push in the region
currently. If you look at Veeam, we speak
about what our ‘act one’ was in the first 10
years – it was very much focused around
data centres, our big bet now on ‘act two’
is very much focused on data management
in the cloud and we’re focusing everything
around that.
How important is having a
clear vision or strategy for
Digital Transformation?
There’s an old saying; change is only
constant. Digital disruption is the only
constant going forward, so you need to
embrace those things to remain competitive.
When I talk to customers, I say look at the
guys either side of you and if you’re not
doing it, are they? And if you don’t, you’ll be
gobbled up – so you need to take advantage
of that. For us as Veeam, we help customers
harness, look after, recover and interrogate
that so they can use it.
How do you expect cloud to develop
over the next 12 months?
In the Middle East, I think there’s going to
be triple-digit growth. Every single customer
we speak to has a cloud strategy. Cloud is
not something you buy, cloud is something
you do. Nowadays, cloud is about running
workloads, running businesses, running
ERPs in there and just utilising what you
want to get your head around what needs
to be done.
How does Veeam offer
business benefits to its Middle
East customers?
As an organisation, we are 100% channel-
based. We have Veeam cloud providers
that sit in-country and are able to offer
hosting and cloud services. So, every single
Veeam customer that’s bought Veeam has
something called Cloud Connect which is
essentially an engine to offload workloads
onto someone else’s platform, so they are all
cloud-ready.
We found that the smaller businesses which
are a lot less risk-averse have taken advantage
of those services quickly. Now that the big
providers are here, if smaller companies try
to compete on cost with big providers, it isn’t
going to be possible. It’s beginning to make
sense for large enterprises to take advantage
of that, so as soon as that happens, we’re
going to see this explosion of big customers
taking advantage. n
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