David was awestruck when he confronted Goliath in the Valley of Elah. The Philistine was reportedly nine feet tall. The giant’s armor and spear weighed as much as David himself. Despite his mighty challenger’s bronze trappings, the shepherd boy took to the field with a simple sling and five smooth stones. David was able to move, unencumbered. With his sling, he was fast, efficient, and decisively effective.

It seems incongruous to compare cloud service providers Google and Amazon to David and Goliath. Both companies are behemoths. But, this isn’t a story about size, it is one about simplicity. Like David, Google Cloud ignores size and presents a straightforward solution that appeals to its users – and this approach is working. According to CNBC, Google Cloud upped its revenue in Q3 2020 to $3.44 billion or 45% more than the same period a year ago. Amazon Web Services (AWS), during the same period grew just 29%. 

Google’s dominance in web search, video content sharing and online advertising is built upon creating easy to understand user experiences. The company has extended that simplicity to other web offerings (one need look no further than the company’s Workspace or Google Meets offerings for examples of this) and now to its Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

What is Google Cloud Platform?

Launched in 2008, Google Cloud Platform is a fast and powerful cloud infrastructure. It delivers an environment designed to accommodate high-traffic and global-scale services. GCP is the backbone of Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube and Google Workspace.

Under its cloud umbrella, Google includes an app engine, compute, storage, and a powerful analytics engine. It also delivers networking options to handle on-prem, cloud, and hybrid environments.

Among its appeals, users count on Google’s refined application container architecture. The design of the company’s Kubernetes (GKE) standard is so precise that its competitors also use it. Most experts agree that the open-source GKE is familiar, automated, and less costly to install. It’s here that the company truly dedicates its commitment to usability and simplicity.

 

Macro Variables of Importance

Comparing the Google Cloud Platform to Amazon Web Services would be incomplete without a side-by-side feature analysis. Part two of this post gets into that. There, we’ll discuss accounts vs. projects, interfaces, performance, security, and more.

The simplicity of Google Cloud includes some aspects that will appeal to management. Bundled into its design, the platform contains features that will enhance KOMs for most companies.

Scalability—Google is a world leader in this area. As the most visited website on Earth, it’s fair to say it knows a thing or two about scalability. Autoscaling within the platform enables applications to adjust to increases in traffic gracefully. The feature also reduces costs when business is slower. This is a boon to companies dealing with seasonality or spiking workloads.

Concision—Rooting through the catalog of products offered by AWS is like trying to pick an appetizer from the menu at TGI Fridays. The options are limitless. Google tends to focus on quality, not quantity. It effectively integrates core primitives, so they work well for most use cases.

Efficiency—AWS is big and complex, making even routine tasks tedious. Google has taken efficiency seriously with products like Anthos, which cut licensing and training costs and increase development speed. Forrester Research says these savings can be significant.

Costs—Pinning down costs for AWS is challenging. Experts categorize its model as complex. Google takes a more “customer-friendly” approach with flexible contracts. Beyond book price, Google Cloud Platform brings other cost-saving innovations. For instance, its managed services, make cloud migration a breeze. The platform can efficiently migrate applications running on VMware to Google Cloud and reduce TCO by 30% according to the cloud service provider.

Google Cloud Platform is big on features, and is steeped in engineering excellence. The benefits of the offering are that it provides organizations with increased speed and agility. And, Google does this while keeping things simple.

Learn how Google Cloud Platform can lower your business’s cost and create a simpler cloud environment by booking a call with an expert today.