cloud service

3 Criteria For the Right Cloud Service Partner In Malaysia

IDC predicts that the digital economy will play a vital role in contributing to at least 20% of Malaysia’s GDP by 2021, with businesses in the country turning to cloud computing in the era of digital disruption.

To overcome high costs of operations, companies are moving many of their core and critical functions to the cloud. Services such as HR, Finance and even employee management are some of the services that more companies are migrating to the cloud, thanks to lower overhead costs. The biggest headache for companies right now is to choose which service provider they would like to engage with.

Which one to choose?

In Malaysia particularly, the names that stand out when talking about cloud are Amazon, Alibaba Cloud and Microsoft. The three big names command a large chunk of the market, where it is expected to grow beyond the 4.6% spending growth forecast for 2019 made by Gartner, Inc in 2018. The three companies are vying for the emerging market in South East Asia, which is estimated to reach US$40.32 billion by 2025.

As more their own customers require and demand better services, many Malaysian companies are now offloading services to the cloud to reduce overhead and operating costs. This is where a service provider such as Alibaba Cloud can stretch their muscles and showcase their selection of services available to the customer to enable digital transformation plans to go ahead.

Local is good

Looking through the list of services on offer between the three service providers, Alibaba Cloud stands out for its hyper locality in Malaysia; the country hosts two availability zones outside of China, alongside other nations such as Australia, India and Indonesia among others. Amazon and Microsoft lack such regional locations for their availability zones.

The three companies offer comparatively similar services across the board – from virtual computing, cloud-based database, to machine learning for AI learning. Only Alibaba Cloud offers customers in Malaysia and Indonesia local access to their online servers.

By being hyperlocal, Alibaba Cloud can provide faster response time to its own customers. This is important as the customers of Alibaba Cloud can be ensured of limited downtime during critical hours, thanks to the presence of a regional service team.

Services available for Enterprises from Alibaba Cloud

High Quality Service Delivery

Customers expects high quality service. When speaking about high quality here, it means reliable and robust service and solution that will stand the test of stress and time. Alibaba Cloud is a great fit for companies looking to transform digitally by offering a wide range of services that can be catered to their needs. Cloud computing is transforming the way businesses use technology. It’s become an essential solution for operational efficiency and positive bottom lines.

One advantage that Alibaba Cloud have over the other players is its availability zone that is currently in Malaysia and Indonesia. The location of these zones puts Alibaba Cloud heads above the rest to provide better service for its customers. Customers here in ASEAN can benefit from this as they are ensured that their post-sale support requests will be swift, as no longer they need to wait for support from service centres several continents away. Malaysian customers especially can benefit as deploying services will be faster for local companies, increasing their competitiveness when compared to other service providers.

Kenny Tan, General Manager, Alibaba Cloud Malaysia on stage during the Alibaba Cloud Summit Kuala Lumpur 2019

Inspiring Aspiration for Future Developments

Having the right cloud architecture will put companies in the driving seat when it comes to maximising investments in next generation applications. Alibaba Cloud aspires to provide the platform and cloud computing power which would enable companies to do more scalable and elastic data analysis of Big Data available here in Malaysia.

Promoting inclusiveness through technology so that customers can experience a world-class cloud system in terms of reliability, security, efficiency and inter-connectivity is also a focus for Alibaba Cloud, as well as helping local businesses accelerate their digital transformation plans. Alibaba Cloud, with its extensive list of available services, is a force to be reckoned with as it further strengthens its position as the number one cloud service provider in Asia Pacific.