What Does Vertical Cloud Mean?
A vertical cloud, also referred to as an industry cloud, is a cloud computing service that is designed to meet the needs of a unique customer base. Vertical cloud service providers tailor their cloud offerings to meet the needs of a specific industry and its business requirements.
Hyperscale providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Microsoft Azure are increasingly offering cloud services that automate business processes for specialized industry sectors. Examples include:
- AWS GovCloud
- Google Contact Center AI
- IBM Cloud for Financial Services
- Oracle Manufacturing Cloud
- Microsoft Cloud for Non-profit
Techopedia Explains Vertical Cloud
Vertical clouds are designed to meet a specific type of business need. For example, a vertical cloud software as a service (SaaS) product intended for the health care industry will have features specially designed for working with electronic health records or medical imaging files.
Advantages of Providing Vertical Cloud Services
There are many reasons why a cloud provider might want to focus their services on a niche audience. Vertical cloud services allow the provider to:
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Gain in-depth experience and knowledge about a specific niche market.
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Focus marketing efforts on a very specific audience to lower costs and achieve maximum return on investment (ROI).
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Become the go-to vendor for an underserved audience.
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Make it easier to build relationships with a niche market's distributors, suppliers and consumers.
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Charge more for specific types of cloud services that only meet the needs of a very small customer base.
Advantages of Consuming Vertical Cloud Services
Vertical cloud solutions enable organizations to automate many types of manual tasks that are specific to one market which allows stakeholders to focus on tasks that will differentiate them from their competitors.