INSIGHT Amazon Web Services and Public First
Research reveals AWS and partners
generate £8.7bn in UK economic value
New research from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Public First has revealed the impact of cloud computing
on the UK economy – including enabling a new industry of small partner companies that consult on and develop
technology solutions for the cloud
To understand how we got
here, it’s worth reecting
on the journey of cloud
adoption in the UK.
Darren Hardman, vice president
and general manager for the UK
and Ireland, AWS, said, “AWS
started in 2006 after a decade
of running the amazon.com
site. at highly scalable web
application helped us develop a
core competency in operating
massive scale technology
infrastructure. We created AWS
and a new mission to serve
developers and businesses using
those skills.”
e rest, as they say, is history.
Adoption of cloud has grown
rapidly over the last decade,
and Hardman explained that
the UK was one region where
the company saw signicant
uptake. is research estimates
that AWS is now generating £8.7
billion in economic value for
businesses across the UK – the
equivalent of 0.4% of GDP.
“With cloud technology, there is a democratisation of technology.”
Darren Hardman, vice president and general manager for the UK and Ireland, AWS
AWS partners have been
instrumental in making that
huge growth possible. Hardman
said that the company’s partners
broadly t into two categories:
those that evolved their business
from a hardware/software
company, or those that were
born in the cloud. ese partners
push cloud adoption forward,
“helping customers drive their
own transformation agenda
utilising the cloud”.
AWS partners have widely
variable business models, and
this new research signposts
the opportunities that are on
oer. Hardman said, “e big
realisation when reading this
study was the huge opportunity
for levelling up all regions in the
UK. e cloud is demonstrated
in this report as a real enabler
for growth. 39 of the 50 fastest
growing tech companies in the
UK are using the AWS cloud.
16 of 17 unicorns – that’s those
billion-dollar valued private
organisations – including
Deliveroo are using the AWS
cloud. is underlines the fact
that, with cloud technology,
there is a democratisation of
technology.”
Hardman highlighted the
opportunity for resellers: “A lot
of the reseller population are
regionally dispersed so have the
ability to be an organisation
that can help a customer in, for
example, the north east to move
to the cloud.”
He added, “ere is a real
opportunity for the reseller
community to tap into the
investments we make around
education, certication, and
support. Resellers can specialise,
pick out key competencies,
dierentiate themselves and nd
an opportunity in the market for
their solution.”
New industry of partners
e report discusses how cloud
is enabling a new industry of
partner companies that develop
their own oerings. Matillion
is a Manchester-based company
that helps businesses bring their
siloed data together, whereas
Kainos is a digital services
provider that specialises in public
sector projects. ese companies
are clear that being an AWS
partner has been vital.
When asked why Matillion
chose AWS as its cloud provider,
its CEO Matthew Scullion
explained that “AWS was
comprehensively the most
advanced oering”. ere are
a lot of considerations, and
Scullion pointed to compute
power, storage, notications,
monitoring, security,
synchronised messaging, and “a
gazillion other things”.
He added, “Back in 2011,
when we started the business,
AWS had the longest list and the
best list, so we chose them. 2011
is quite a long time ago when it
comes to cloud, GCB was not
that big a deal and Azure was a
lot more nascent. AWS had the
multi-year technical lead over
everybody else, so it was really as
simple as that.”
Kainos had a similar
experience. Gareth Workman,
head of cloud practice, Kainos,
explained the company still
uses AWS because it keeps
innovating. He said, “Why
AWS is so good is because they
are consistently removing pain
points. It’s not always about
adding features, it might just be
making something a bit easier.”
He added that the platform also
allows companies to build for
failure – and that mindset shift
allows for the experimentation
that is foundational to reaching
the best business outcomes.
The future
e opportunities are seemingly
endless. Matillion’s Scullion
explained, “Ultimately, what
cloud allows end users to do
is compete at a limitless scale.
For technology and software
companies, whether that’s
consumer-orientated software
like Netix or enterprise
infrastructure software like us
– cloud gives you a much lower
barrier to entry. at means
that, if you nd product market
t, you can build really big
businesses with not too much
upfront costs.”
Darren Hardman, vice president and general
manager for the UK and Ireland, AWS
16 | Comms Business Magazine | October 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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