In this cloud roundup, find out what Google Cloud is up to and how partners stand to benefit. Plus, learn what Snow Software’s latest survey results mean for the channel.

Google Cloud Enters Indonesia

Cloud channel partners interested in targeting southeastern Asia have a new option from Google Cloud Platform. The third-largest public cloud vendor said this week it has opened its latest region in Jakarta, Indonesia. It operates eight others in Asia-Pacific.

The move is a smart one simply from a strategic perspective. Even though Indonesia’s public cloud market remains in the formative stages, it has “great potential to grow and add value to the economy,” according to research firm Boston Consulting Group.

To that end, BCG dubs Indonesia one of the markets in Asia-Pacific flourishing the most when it comes to SaaS, PaaS and IaaS. Analysts project a compound annual growth rate of 25% over the five years spanning 2018-2023. In terms of dollars, that amounts to a trajectory rising from $200 million to $800 million.

That may not be much compared to public cloud spending in other parts of the world, but providers getting in on the ground floor, as it were, stand to enjoy a competitive advantage as adoption takes off. BCG expects media, finance, retail and large, family-run conglomerates to represent the biggest consumers of public cloud in Indonesia at first.

Google Cloud’s entry into Indonesia is also a smart move as managed service providers, VARs and other Google Cloud Platform partners support enterprises grappling with the effects of COVID-19. The more cloud regions, the more widespread the ability to enable organizations’ digital transformation, an undertaking that continues as the pandemic forces remote work.

“We believe the COVID-19 crisis is likely to significantly accelerate the shift to digital and fundamentally shake up the business landscape,” analysts for consulting firm McKinsey noted in April.

Google Cloud appears to be banking on that activity.

“With lower latency access to data and applications, companies doing business in Indonesia can accelerate their digital transformation,” wrote Davis Hart, product manager, and Rick Harshman, Asia Pacific managing director, in a June 23 blog. “It will also help customers meet specific regulatory and compliance requirements, and provide more disaster recovery options for customers across APAC. The region has three cloud zones from the start, enabling high-availability workloads.”

All told, the Jakarta, Indonesia region brings to 24 the number of regions Google Cloud offers. The company also now boasts 73 zones across 17 countries. In the Jakarta region, channel partners may take advantage of Google Cloud’s standard services, the company said. Those platforms include Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine, Cloud SQL, Cloud Storage, Cloud Spanner, Cloud Bigtable and BigQuery.

Partners’ Cloud Opportunity Will Continue Post-COVID: Snow Software

Another day, another report speaking to the rising – and permanent – popularity of cloud as organizations navigate COVID-19. This time, the results of a recent Snow Software survey show that 80% of IT leaders around the world have increased overall cloud usage. Of those respondents, 60% predict the demand will continue; only 22% said it has leveled out. For channel partners, this all means continued work, even after the coronavirus crisis subsides.

Snow Software’s Brian Allison

“Even though a number of organizations are starting to return to the office, there will likely be a mix of office and remote environments for the foreseeable future,” Brian Allison, vice president of global channels and alliances at Snow Software, told Channel Futures. “Partners are already well informed on how to create a successful hybrid reality, and I believe they will be key to helping organizations wade through this difficult period.”

Snow Software’s Ciri Haugh

Ciri Haugh, senior manager of corporate communications at Snow Software, agreed.

“While many industry sources have agreed that cloud has been a bright spot during [the pandemic], there has been some debate about how behaviors, use and investment in cloud may play out in the long term as things return to normal,” Snow Software’s Ciri Haugh wrote in a June 16 blog. “Our findings suggest there is a growing trend to embrace cloud services whether infrastructure, applications or security tools.”

These statistics bode well for partners. That’s because they counter predictions that businesses will cut cloud services as they analyze IT spend, Allison said.

“And it’s not just about usage,” Allison added. “Ninety-one percent said that they…

…were changing course on their cloud strategy as a result of the current economic climate. That’s incredibly significant considering the slower embrace of the cloud before the pandemic, and it will completely reshape how organizations use technology.”

Even so, organizations are seeking ways to trim cloud expenses as COVID-19 affects finances – and channel partners prove vital to those efforts, Allison said. To that point, 31% of respondents told Snow Software they are renegotiating cloud contracts. Another 32% are asking cloud vendors for extended payment terms.

“Partners can aid organizations in these efforts and work with cloud vendors to find ways to support flexible payment options,” Allison said. “This would even help the 9% of respondents who said they wouldn’t be able to pay their cloud bills this month.”

Allison said that while Snow Software only polled a small sample of IT leaders worldwide (250 in all), the answers indicate where businesses stand with their responses both to remote work and the global economy. As one example, 56% of respondents expect to spend more on cloud resources; only 20% think they will spend less.

“Partners can be a resource for organizations looking to accelerate their cloud journey, providing guidance, education and options to quickly support their businesses’ changing needs,” Allison said.

“We are in an unprecedented time and things are changing rapidly,” he added.” Businesses are expected to adapt quickly – and it’s up to partners to provide a platform for that agility, especially as IT leaders wade through a new series of critical problems and requirements on a daily and sometimes weekly basis.”

Snow Software’s cloud management platform provides insight into cloud inventory, usage and spend.