By Public cloud adoption continues to accelerate. According to the Flexera 2022 State of the Cloud Report, 63% of organizations now describe their use of the cloud as “heavy,” while 23% have moved into “moderate.”
Of the three biggest public cloud providers — Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud — AWS remains the front-runner, with 34% of the cloud market share. In part, this first-place position is tied to Amazon’s experience as the first large-scale provider, but there’s also a case to be made for its industry-specific solutions.
Here’s a look at how AWS services can help manufacturing, retail and healthcare businesses make the most of public cloud.
The Changing Cloud Landscape
As the cloud has moved from business benefit to operational must-have, competition has emerged in the public service marketplace. Both Google and Microsoft have made significant cloud inroads, but despite their successes, Amazon remains the go-to option for many organizations.
One key benefit of Amazon’s offering is the depth and breadth of AWS services. Along with simple scalability and powerful compute platforms, the company has also created a host of industry-specific services that help set it apart from the crowd.
AWS for Manufacturing
For manufacturing firms, unplanned downtime or unexpected system failures can be disastrous. AWS services for asset maintenance and reliability empower organizations to take control of evolving processes and identify the root causes of issues rather than simply solving for symptoms.
Consider the emerging role of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) sensors and applications. AWS provides easy-to-implement sensors and integrated analytics tools that help companies identify potential failure points and take a proactive approach to machinery maintenance, in turn improving their mean time between failures (MTBF).
AWS in Retail
For retail companies, AWS services offer a way to improve demand forecasting using machine learning (ML) algorithms. By leveraging both current and historical demand trends, AWS ML services can help companies identify potential spikes or stalls in demand for specific products.
Not only does this help predict which products offer the most profitable returns, but it also informs inventory planning and supply chain efforts. Equipped with reliable data about likely future trends, retailers can reduce their risk of inventory overstocking and avoid issues related to supply chain lead times.
AWS and Healthcare
For healthcare organizations, AWS offers a host of services that can help improve both the patient and clinician experience. From a patient perspective, AWS solutions using artificial intelligence (AI) and ML can help create virtual care environments that let patients connect with physicians on demand.
For clinicians, the use of solutions such as automated speech recognition can help reduce the time and effort required to enter, find and make use of healthcare data, in turn giving physicians more time to spent with patients.
Doing More With AWS
Amazon Web Services provides the power and scalability businesses need to stay competitive in a cloud-first market — but that’s just the beginning. Industry-specific AWS solutions can help organizations take their cloud deployments to the next level by maximizing performance, prediction and the user experience. Similarly, AWS training programs offered by third-party providers can make the difference for your organization.
