If Cloud is the New Normal, Is Enterprise the New Tech Company?

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This article originally appeared at The WHIR

To get ahead in the cloud era, enterprises have to start thinking like technology companies and seriously consider whether it makes more sense to build vs. buy.

At the AWS re:Invent keynote on Wednesday, Andy Jassy, VP of Amazon Web Services, said that although the “cloud is the new normal”, he is often asked for best practices for enterprises moving to the cloud. There is no one way that enterprises do this. Jassy spoke on Tuesday about how partners are key in its growth strategy and the enterprise transition to cloud.

Some have 2-5 year plans to move everything to the cloud (AOL, Hertz, Talen Energy, and others), but still there are “loads of enterprises not ready to retire data centers yet,” said. These include Comcast, Gannett, Johnson and Johnson, Intuit and others.

One thing that is evident from the companies AWS pulled on stage during the keynote at its annual cloud conference, which attracted 19,000 attendees this year, is that enterprises that aren’t necessarily thought of as technology companies are having to act like them in order to stay innovative and focus on core competencies.

Capital One Draws in Talent with AWS

AWS customer Capital One CIO Rob Alexander said that with mobile usage twice that as web, “it’s clear…that we need to be great in building amazing digital experiences for our customers.”

Capital One has been investing in engineering talent and has adopted an open source-first policy. While the company started in the cloud in a more experimental mode, developers have driven usage of the platform.

“Use of AWS is a great draw for talent,” Alexander said.

Cloud usage at Capital One is also saving it money on data centers. Last year, Capital One had 8 data centers, and by 2018 it expects that number to be down to 3.

GE Talks Transformation

GE is one of the darlings of enterprise cloud, hiring 2,000 IT professionals over two years. It says it employs a buy vs. build mentality for “things that matter.”

In other words, being really good at cloud infrastructure isn’t going to help it sell more locomotives or aircraft engines, Jim Fowler, GE CIO said.

By 2020, $15 billion of GE’s revenue will be from software, he said.

GE has been working with AWS for the past 4 years, and plans to migrate over 9,000 workloads to AWS over the next three years, going from 34 data centers to 4 data centers that will “only hold things that are our secret sauce,” Fowler said.

MLB to Spin Out Tech Company Based on AWS

Baseball may be an old school American passion, but MLB is embracing AWS to develop a platform that will help fans watch and interact with the game in new ways.

Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) EVP and EVP Joe Inzerillo said that the ability to move fast with AWS and get things deployed is key to its success.

Last year at re:Invent, MLBAM launched Statcast, a platform that runs on AWS that integrates video and stats, providing more context to the game. Since then, MLBAM has looked at ways to provide a more interactive experience through 3D – bringing fans right into the game, as well as developing next generation imaging, which collects 3D camera data to show the 360-degrees of a play, which could have “ramifications from entertainment to officiating,” Inzerillo said. It is hoping to roll that out soon, as early as next season.

Using lessons from its own OTT streaming service, mlb.tv, which is over 12 years old and has more than a million subscribers, MLBAM is working with WWE, Playstation VUE, HBO Now, PGA Tour, and most recently, the NHL, to power their OTT streaming services. The company is well on its way to spinning out a technology company, Inzerillo said.

This first ran at http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/if-cloud-is-the-new-normal-is-enterprise-the-new-tech-company