The global cloud services market, from personal to business usage, has seen explosive growth over the past few years. As our world becomes more cloud-focused, various regions have started to invest more in cloud technology development and infrastructure. No region demonstrates this growth better than the Asia-Pacific.
However, cloud adoption is moving too fast across the APAC region to rely on traditional networking models. Enterprises have to build agility into their businesses by rethinking how they connect their cloud services, applications and data.
This rapid growth is demonstrated by IDC’s public cloud services market forecast across the Asia-Pacific - set to reach a staggering $153.6 billion by 2026. According to Statista, China and South Korea are demonstrating some of the fastest growth rates in the region, growing from $54 billion to $137 billion, and $8 billion to $15 billion respectively, between now and 2028. Digitally emerging markets across APAC are also experiencing high levels of growth across the same time period, with Statista predicting the Philippines to grow from $1 billion to $2.2 billion and Indonesia to grow from $1.7 billion to $3.7 billion.
Major cloud service providers are increasingly demonstrating keen interest and actively investing in APAC. For example, Google has recently expanded its Google Cloud regions to Malaysia and Thailand. Many other cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Alibaba, Tencent and more have also been investing more in up-and-coming markets across the region.
Legacy networking no longer matches the needs of the cloud across the Asia-Pacific and around the world. For many enterprises, upgrading their own network infrastructure comes with a lot of costs and challenges, which can make it difficult to keep up in today’s fast-growing cloud market.
This has resulted in enterprises exploring new connectivity solutions that can seamlessly and securely connect them to the cloud, enabling them to capitalise on the growing opportunities within the APAC region.
Accelerating network transformation
Legacy network infrastructure was not built for the cloud, which can make it inefficient in today’s cloud-first world. This legacy infrastructure is often also very rigid and expensive for enterprises to scale, making it inefficient for enterprises that are trying to grow their cloud strategies. Legacy MPLS connections for example, can take weeks, or even months, to set up.
Businesses today need a network that is capable of connecting to multiple cloud-based applications and services, while being easy to pivot according to business and customer demands.
Enterprises need to explore new methods of connecting to the cloud seamlessly and securely, with an expert partner by their side.
Cloud-first connectivity
One of the easiest, most efficient and effective ways to level up an enterprise’s cloud strategy is by working with an expert partner. This is particularly important when trying to expand in a particular region like the Asia-Pacific, since local partners can provide specific market insights and expert knowledge.
Whether an enterprise needs simple and direct connectivity to a single cloud provider, or an advanced multi-cloud connectivity solution for added flexibility, availability and security, the right partner will have the network and experience to build the most suited solution for the business.
Some key benefits of connecting to the cloud via a trusted partner include:
- One partner, multiple clouds - By utilising an expert partner’s network and established cloud connections, enterprises can gain secure and private connections to a large ecosystem of leading cloud and SaaS providers.
- Scalable & on-demand connectivity - With an expert partner, enterprises can often gain access to multiple network services, including cloud connectivity, via an easy-to-use platform. Software-defined networking (SDN) platforms are popular options for on-demand, self-service and scalable connectivity.
- Private & secure connections - The right partner and solution will provide secure and private connections to the cloud to keep mission-critical data and applications safe. Enterprises should look out for solutions that utilise secure Layer 2 MEF-certified Ethernet connectivity. This can provide added peace of mind when compared to unsecure public internet connections.
- Speed & performance - An expert partner will deliver data and traffic via the fastest, most direct and efficient route to the cloud service provider. This helps to improve availability, performance and user experiences, no matter the location.
- Global reach - Established providers in the cloud space already have extensive global network ecosystems of cloud service providers, data centres and other partners. By selecting a partner in this space, enterprises can immediately expand their global reach without the cost or complexity of managing multiple vendor relationships themselves.
Optimising operations across Asia
User experiences have never been so important in today’s always-on world. Enterprises must make the most of the growing opportunities that the cloud can bring in the APAC region and around the world.
With cloud services growing at such a rapid pace, there is an opportunity for enterprises to optimise their business operations with simplicity, agility and security.
The time is now for enterprises to enhance the performance of their cloud-based applications and services to keep up in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. With the right solution, partner network and strategy, it is simple to level up an enterprise’s cloud strategy, without the cost, risk or complexities of doing it alone.
