As global macroeconomic conditions worsen and funding slowdown continues, Indian startups are cutting cloud costs and optimizing tech budgets by renegotiating contracts with major service providers like AWS and Google Cloud, multiple startup founders told ET. This trend of startups cutting cloud costs has become a key survival strategy across the ecosystem.
Many of these companies have slashed cloud expenses by 20–30%, while some growth-stage startups such as ecommerce platforms Meesho and DealShare have reduced their cloud expenses by nearly 50% under pressure to control cash burn.
This surge in cloud cost-cutting among startups has pushed the top three cloud service providers — Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure — into pricing wars to retain clients during the downturn.
Over the past few months, several startups have been approached by AWS rivals to switch over for lower pricing, multiple founders who have been in talks with them confirmed. In some cases, founders are using competing quotes from Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure to renegotiate discounted contracts with AWS, their primary cloud provider.
Cybersecurity ecosystem
The Data Security Council of India has forecast that the cybersecurity ecosystem will expand up to a point where nearly one million professionals will be required by 2025. Additionally, the demand for cloud security skills is estimated to grow by 115% between 2020 and 2025, representing almost 20,000 job openings, Narayan added.
An extensive exercise in reskilling and/or upskilling the existing workforce, believe staffing experts, is one of the ways that telcos can future proof their work.
Indian mobile phone operators are expected to at least double their investments on network security with the 5G roll out expected to spark a surge in network vulnerabilities, which assume critical importance especially for enterprises.
However, it is already proving to be a challenge for telcos to have robust security teams.
“Even if we do not talk about 5G (specifically), the security talent in general in the country is very sparse at the moment. We need to get more (security) professionals in the system”
Bharti Airtel, for example, has been preparing for 5G roll out by upskilling its professionals and offering them certification courses such as CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) and CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional). The courses are offered based on skill and eligibility level free of cost.
