TOKYO: Accenture, IBM, Infy are top cloud service providers: HfS

TOKYO: US IT advisory HfS Research has
ranked Accenture, IBM, Infosys, Cognizant and HCL as the top 5 hyperscaler
cloud service providers. These are followed by Wipro, TCS, Capgemini, KPMG and
EY.

HfS Research defines hyperscaler cloud service providers as those bringing
global business solutions outsourcing and consulting capabilities to support
and enable organisations to migrate, adopt, and build cloud-native offerings.
These providers consult on platform re-architecture, application development,
data migration, and transitioning services from technology stacks into macro
and microservices hosted in a data centre on-premise, private cloud, public
cloud (hyperscale), or any combination.

Given the massive movement to the
cloud now, these cloud service providers are becoming invaluable. HfS ranked
the cloud providers across execution, innovation, and voice of the customer
criteria.

The research is the result of data collected last year through provider RFIs
(request for information), structured briefings, client reference interviews,
and from publicly available information sources. This information is
supplemented by key findings from a large G2000 survey of enterprise leaders.
The report analysed service providers with a minimum of 10,000 cloud
professionals, services across the cloud services value stream, and scale to
provide global and cross industry services.

Accenture tops the list with over 1 lakh cloud professionals. It had approximately
$12 billion in cloud revenue in 2020. Last year, it set up the Accenture Cloud
First initiative with a $3 billion investment over three years to help clients
become `cloud first’ businesses. The report says it has invested considerably
in evolving innovative cloud migration and management platforms and solutions.

HfS’s Joel Martin, research VP
for cloud strategies, and Martin Gabriel, associate director of research, noted
that rebadging discrete solutions into a “cloud-ready” offering isn’t enough.
“Service providers must have a compelling story for both technology and
business leaders on how their solutions have sustainable impact and meet robust
security and governance requirements while accelerating a shift to becoming
cloud native. Worth noting is that business leaders are more likely to consider
traditional technology outsourcers as they are still focused on costs and
efficiencies, while technology leaders look to GBS (global business services)
to provide business context to the cloud. The winning hyperscaler service
providers will offer both,” they said. They said orchestration of multiple
applications, databases, and processes across on-premise, hybrid, and public
cloud is an architectural issue first. “DevSecOps, testing, quality assurance,
and CI/CD managers are all important, but enterprises and service providers
must start with the architecture in place and a vision for change,” they said.

IBM, which is ranked second and
which counts Etihad Airways, Thomson Reuters, Phillips Carbon Black as
customers, acquired Red Hat for $34 billion in 2018, which significantly
strengthened its multi-cloud capabilities. HfS estimates it has over 60,000
cloud professionals. “IBM must convince customers that Red Hat’s OpenStack and
Garage Methods solutions don’t lock you into IBM, but rather provide a rich
tapestry for multi-cloud orchestration,” Martin and Gabriel wrote.

Infosys, which counts Dairy Farm,
Australian Open, DNB ASA as customers, trains 5,000 hyperscale professionals
each month, shows HfS’s study. HFS estimates it has 50,000–60,000 cloud
professionals and half of them hold at least one cloud certification. Last
year, Infosys launched Infosys Cobalt that provided access to a catalogue of
over 15,000 assets to help businesses leverage the potential of the cloud
ecosystem. It also has the Polycloud Platform to manage hybrid cloud
infrastructure.