For the UK’s C-suite tech executives, the decision about which computing provider to use is not normally one that keeps them up at night.
CIOs and CTOs at large corporations have long relied on US big tech corporations to provide the backbone of their computing infrastructure, whether it’s Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, or Microsoft Azure.
These ‘big three’ have dominated the playing field for years, meaning that for most CIOs and CTOs, the only decision they have to make is which of the them to go with. In fact, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft had 63% of the global market share for cloud infrastructure revenue in Q3 2024.
They are established and reliable, so it’s unsurprising that most executives reach for one of them to supply their compute.
However, established reliability today does not necessarily equate to a sound strategy for the future. I strongly believe that UK tech executives should start looking to UK cloud computing providers to start developing a country-wide sovereign cloud infrastructure.
These decisions might require some flexibility. Changing providers may cause some disruption that executives will need to adapt to, but in the long-term they’ll be able to streamline compliance, drive down costs, and increase their organisational resilience.
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The advantages of backing British cloud providers
Switching to domestic cloud computing providers immediately ensures that all an organisation’s data remains within the UK’s jurisdiction, ensuring that it better complies with UK GDPR. For many large corporations, compliance with GDPR is costly – they need to track, report, and manage data flows with teams of analysts and legal experts. Switching to a UK-based computing provider doesn’t solve all of this, but it does relieve some of the complexity of compliance, reducing costs.
Similarly, it reduces exposure to foreign jurisdictions and external data laws, principally the US Cloud Act, which provides some mechanisms for the US government to request data stored overseas. Staying outside the remit of the Cloud Act can vastly simplify a UK corporation’s compliance procedures.
Secondly, choosing a UK-based cloud computing provider helps to build a country-wide sovereign cloud infrastructure. By doing so they’ll help to stimulate a more competitive cloud computing market in the UK, breaking the stranglehold that Amazon, Microsoft, and Google currently have.
The effect of this market dominance has been that these three big tech companies have largely been able to dictate prices to UK corporations. They hold so many of the contracts, both across the private and public sectors, that they set the tune to which everyone must dance.
Backing British cloud will reduce costs
By choosing UK-based providers and breaking out of this system, C-suite executives are paving the way for a healthier, more competitive cloud computing market, which will ultimately drive down prices for them and increase their bottom line. It is a long-term strategy, but is one that will undoubtedly bear fruit.
If these executives want a more immediate reason to switch to UK cloud computing providers, then they need look no further than the last year. As geopolitical instability, macroeconomic shocks, and political turmoil take hold across large parts of the world, a third reason to buy into a UK sovereign cloud network is to insulate their firms from these disruptions.
Physical supply chains have long been threatened by increasingly prevalent shocks – and transnational computing supply chains are now similarly vulnerable. Disruptions of core computing infrastructure can put a whole organisation on the back foot – and by relying on dominant US big tech companies, executives are exposing themselves to these risks more than ever.
Executives in the UK who rely on Google’s Cloud Platform, for example, are exposing their organisation to the ongoing Department of Justice investigation into the company, the outcomes of which are unknown and unpredictable. In a world of increasing instability, be it political, economic, or even military, choosing UK-based cloud computing providers can help to insulate British tech companies.
For a long time now, the US big tech corporations have dominated this market. I’m not trying to punish them for that – they’ve got to where they are through offering a market-leading product. But the homegrown technology and talent is now in the right place to challenge this dominance. It just needs the seal of approval from UK tech executives who reach out and start to power some increased demand.
If enough of them do so, then the country will be well on its way to developing a sovereign cloud computing infrastructure. These executives will then reap the rewards of streamlined compliance, lower costs, and shored-up organisational resilience.
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