The latest report from Frost & Sullivan about Iran’s Cloud Computing Market, claims the nascent Iranian cloud computing market offers immense potential for future growth. Although the biggest challenges to deployment are low internet speed/connectivity as well as ease of doing business for outsiders due to poor security measures. Also, most infrastructure is acquired illegally. Hence, collaboration with the government or large telecom players will be critical to market entry and growth.
“The outsourcing culture has been low in Iran, and market entry policies and regulations are still vague. Until there is improvement in infrastructure and government assistance, it will be tough for international players to establish a foothold in the Iranian cloud market. To start with, non-core business applications like web hosting and mails will help create an ecosystem to host/implement other solutions.” said Gowtham Bandi, Digital Transformation Consultant at Frost & Sullivan.
The report examines critical aspects for investing in and entering the Iranian cloud market. The study highlights industry verticals to target in order to create distinctive positioning to enter the public, private and hybrid, infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), product-as-a-service (PaaS), and software-as-a-service (SaaS) cloud markets.
Local cloud providers, such as Afranet, DP Iran Co, and Innfinision, that operate using/reselling global products, presently dominate the Iranian data and cloud market. Integrating with telecom players for infrastructure, and European/Indian IT solution providers to enhance portfolio capabilities, will provide growth avenues for all stakeholders.
The hybrid cloud segment holds massive opportunities, driven by demand from the small and medium enterprises sector. Creating robust infrastructure and addressing security concerns will be vital for success. “New business models are being developed to create revenue opportunities through the cloud,” noted Bandi. “This will help them achieve a strong competitive standpoint against established players in the Iran cloud market.”
