Myths about AWS, Public Cloud and Security – My Views after AWS Summit Mumbai 2018

I had the opportunity to be a presenter along with AWS @ Mumbai summit on the topic of “Self-Defending Borders- Protect Your Web Facing Workloads”.

Here are my key learnings about the myths on the public cloud, security, and AWS that can be busted.

Myth#1- Adoption toward the public cloud is mainly for lower cost

Customers adopt public cloud not just for the cost advantage but primarily for speed. In fact, public cloud can be costlier but still, customers choose and favour it over other alternatives due to the speed/agility it provides to the organization. Generally, those who value speed will be in a serious enough business to be concerned about application security. This brings us to the next point/myth.

Myth#2 Security is afterthought & most businesses don’t care about it till they get hacked

Security and specifically application security viewed as an integral part of business existence and I can see this transformation already happening. It is a top of mind concern for many CXOs. It has become a must-have hygiene for any serious business.

During my presentation, I asked for a show-of-hands on how many are concerned about the security of their workloads and applications running in AWS. I got almost a 100% show-of-hands in a packed room with 300+ people.

Myth#3 Indian businesses favour in-house processes for cost advantage instead of spending money on Software/SaaS services and specialized expertise

Since speed is a key reason for the adoption of public cloud, it is an automatic transition in thought process to also leverage the public cloud marketplace and partner ecosystem to get the expertise. Business leaders realize the biggest cost savings of subscribing to expertise is the opportunity cost savings of freed up time to focus on their core business and get further acceleration there.

During my presentation I asked for a show-of-hands on how many have the skill set and time w.r.t configuring the website security policies, managing it and keeping it updated. I got lesser than 10% show-of-hands. As an application security vendor, who solves exactly this pain point, it reinforced and validated our product value pitch in this space.

Myth#4 AWS is an 800-pound gorilla that will eventually build the partner product offerings as part of their own platform and nudge them out.

The specialized players can actually benefit from AWS having partial partner product features. By doing this, AWS establishes the need for adoption in a larger market. For serious/more mature business there will always be a demand for a more specialized offering and the partner will be able to get more business from this broader reach.

The first proof point to bust this myth - I was a co-speaker along with AWS doing a joint presentation on the same topic about our respective product offerings. AWS first talked about their own Website security offering and then introduced Indusface AppTrana so that customers can choose if they want a more differentiated offering. It is very important to articulate the differentiation and if there is clarity on these points, AWS themselves will take it to the customer and give them the choice

In our case, the differentiation was clearly articulated with following points that we provide better than what AWS can offer:

1. We are built on AWS and hence the customer automatically gets the AWS platform benefits such as auto scale and network DDOS at no additional cost
2. We provide automatic and instant protection. With AWS WAF the customer must subscribe to a higher cost managed service to create custom rules. We deliver expertise, convenience, speed as well as a cost advantage.
3. We bundle Application/website scanning in our product allowing customers to know their risk in an ongoing manner, and our offering continuously monitors and protects against any new risks.

Provided following case studies of customers already in AWS but choosing our service over the AWS built-in services and this video was played in the session. 

ShopperStop Case Study

TCS Customer Case Study

AWS sales teams clearly proved that their first commitment is to customer’s needs by promoting our products on their own when the requirements matched the benefits we deliver.  

It’s a win-win for all since ISVs still contribute to the growth of AWS platform and overall innovation ecosystem, and customers are not restricted by any constraints. So yes, AWS is big and getting bigger, but it still functions like a startup hungry for growth and more customer wins.