The Complex and Opaque Cloud Ecosystem
Reimar Weißbach, Alexander Bogislav Herzfeldt, Sebastian Floerecke, Christoph Ertl · Advances in systems analysis, software engineering, and high performance computing book series · 2020
In the complex and opaque cloud business ecosystem, service providers face several challenges. The fastest growing field of IaaS is evolving towards a commodity market, resulting in an increasing price competition. By first examining current challenges for cloud service providers, giving a theoretical background on value facilitation with a focus on the areas of value creation, and describing a state-of-the-art cloud ecosystem model, a sound understanding of the current situation is established. The role of value facilitation and standardization as core capabilities for successful IaaS providers are discussed and identified as being crucial for successful long-term survival in the competitive ecosystem. Additionally, learnings from expert interviews are analyzed, and five concrete recommendations for IaaS providers are derived. These recommendations should serve the management of IaaS providers in order to compare, challenge, and potentially adapt their current business models.