We all by now, have heard about and know what the cloud is. It’s on all of our phones, your pictures, music, and a good number of you have all of your files living in the cloud rather than on a hard drive that can crash. So, what exactly is a cloud provider? It’s not far different than exactly what you’ve been using. A Cloud Provider or Cloud Service Provider (CSP) is a company that offers network services, infrastructure, or applications for your business stored and run from within the cloud. Those services are hosted on servers in centralized data centers that allow you to connect from anywhere and access.
Today, we are going to break down the top cloud providers in 2020 so you can make the most informed choice for you and your company’s needs.
Please note that this list is organized in no particular order as you will be looking for certain benefits and features while others will be of no interest to you and your needs. So, as before, it does mean that you’ll have to stay with us until the end of the show… or article.
- AWS (Amazon Web Services) Amazon Web Services is the most popular public cloud provider in the world for several reasons. They’ve been around since 2002 and according to their website they have millions of active users operating their infrastructure with AWS support. In fact, in 2018, of all cloud users in the world, half of them were operating under AWS umbrella of services. If you’ve used a smart TV, booked a room at a hotel, or even gone and booked a flight somewhere there’s no doubt you’ve come across a company that uses Amazon Web Services. Their platform is fast, reliable, and cost-effective, which makes sense because they were the first player in the game of cloud computing. They offer hundreds of services, have a simple sign-up process and seamless integration. Cloud security for your data is priority number one for AWS. Many consider them the best cloud provider in the business as they are always developing new technologies for cloud computing.
- Google Cloud PlatformGoogle Cloud Platform is a very popular cloud provider as well. They now own a good amount of market share in this sector having doubled their revenue in the span of 6 months in 2019 from $4 billion to $8 billion. It offers many different solutions allowing you to solve many of your company’s business and operational needs with ease. They are the most affordable cloud computing services in the market space. Their technology offered is flexible, open and easily scalable to meet your companies needs. Google Cloud Platform have an extensive list of products and services offered through their cloud computing. From AI and Machine Learning, to Media and Gaming services, to Security and Identity services there is really so much you can do for your website. Along with a full G-Suite of apps that are cloud based and super user-friendly.
- Microsoft AzureMicrosoft Azure has quickly become one of the fastest growing public cloud providers in the market space. Azure thrives and attracts so many customers because of its Intelligent Cloud services. This is an exclusive offering on Microsoft Azure, and one that helps them provide the most advanced intelligent products and services. You can literally run your company through the cloud using the Windows Virtual Desktop. Their security protocols and compliance certificates rival AWS, and include certificates for the US government. The have a stranglehold on government cloud computing with dedicated operations for that private cloud. Like AWS, their access and availability is global.
- IBM CloudIBM Cloud is a full stack cloud computing platform. They are not as intricate and advanced as Azure or Amazon Web Services, but they do have industry specific cloud computing with a focus on pioneering. They do have AI tools and services as well as full infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a services (SaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS) capabilities and integration. They are a leader and one of the top cloud providers that offers hybrid cloud services. Hybrid cloud services are the integrations of mixed computing, storage, and services with infrastructure on-site, private cloud services, and a public cloud. For this type of need, you would look at IBM Cloud as the best cloud provider for your company.
- Oracle CloudOracle Cloud is both a public cloud provider and a private cloud provider. They are one of the top private clouds on the market. However, they do lag behind in the public sector compared to the others on this list. They offer AI like most others and have many options on how you set up your cloud and create your cloud. Their list of cloud services isn’t as extensive as some of the others on this list. Oracle Cloud is considered to be a niche cloud provider. You have the ability to have IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS services and integrations, and they also have their DaaS which is what they use to refer to as the Oracle Data Cloud.
- Salesforce Salesforce is a public cloud provider as well. They are a major player in the market of cloud computing. Their biggest market share is in the banking industry with clients in the US and Europe. If you’re looking for CRM platforms for your site, Salesforce is at the forefront with its cutting-edge CRM technology. They were the first in the game in offering cloud based CRM, and remain the leader still. Salesforce uses its AI integration to look for and identify sales opportunities, and in turn bring in more revenue for your company.
