Alternative hyper-scale cloud computing provider Linode released a study on August 12, 2021, from a survey designed to assess whether developers trust third-party cloud providers.
ClearPath Strategies conducted the study,’ and the survey revealed that while developers’ familiarity and comfort with Amazon, Microsoft, and Google positions the well-known providers as market frontrunners, developers often do not agree with their values.
ClearPath’s study gathered insights from more than 800 developers at small and mid-sized businesses with less than 500 full-time employees in a wide variety of industries and geographies worldwide.
The study found that although SMB developers voice trust in their provider of choice in general, a deeper examination of their values uncovers a trust issue for major cloud providers.
“Approximately 20 percent of developers believe that the Big 3 hyper-scalers will engage in behaviors that include leveraging their brands to stifle competition, focusing on shareholders more than customer needs, hosting or working with customers those developers find morally objectionable, monetizing user data for their use, and locking them in with proprietary tools,” said Stephanie Fairchild, senior analyst at ClearPath Strategies.
The survey reveals that trust plays an important role in developers’ choice of a cloud hosting provider but needs to take precedence. When prioritizing needs or values, developers report they prioritize needs overvalues 73 percent of the time.
“Criteria such as security and performance take priority over these trust issues for developers, but it’s interesting to note that a sizable portion of developers are thinking about how their values align with those of their service providers,” added Fairchild.
The Top 3 reasons cited for developers’ preference of their chosen third-party cloud provider were security, trust and quality of service. Survey respondents indicated hyper-scale and alternative cloud providers deliver equally effective performance and security.
“It’s no secret that the extensive functionality and brand awareness of hyper-scalers make them popular choices for developers, but their standing with SMBs weakens with respect to values,” said Blair Lyon, vice president, cloud experience Linode.
Founded in 2003, Linode accelerates innovation by making cloud computing simple, accessible, and affordable. The company empowers more than a million developers, startups, and businesses across its global network of 11 data centers.
“An alternative cloud provider like ours (Linode) can be a more trustworthy partner for innovative upstarts—one that offers predictable pricing and doesn’t threaten or compete with their business. When an alternative cloud provider meets a developer’s functional needs, developers can have the best of both worlds. Developers get a provider they can trust to meet their needs and one that shares their values as well,” said Blair Lyon.
