Bob Evans, founder of the Cloud Wars media project
Source: accelerationeconomy.com
The Uber taxi service has long relied on its own infrastructure, but now the company is signing agreements with Google and Oracle to move to the cloud. Uber currently stores 95% of its data in its own data centers, but under the new contracts with tech giants, they plan to close them.
For both Oracle and Google Cloud, the separate but interrelated deals with Uber represent massive wins for not only revenue growth but also as very high-credibility references that other businesses will surely consider as they choose from among world-class hyperscalers. Look at how Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi described his company’s engagements with Oracle and Google Cloud in separate announcements:
“Uber is revolutionizing the way people, products, and services move across continents and through cities. To deliver on that promise for customers while building value for shareholders, we needed a cloud provider that will help us maximize innovation while reducing our overall infrastructure costs. Oracle provides an ideal combination of price, performance, flexibility, and security to help us deliver incredible customer service, build new products, and increase profitability.”
“Our partnership with Google centers around a shared commitment to putting customer experience at the forefront of everything we do. It is our job to continually improve and reimagine the types of experiences we’re providing through the Uber platform, exceeding expectations every time someone opens the app to go somewhere or get something delivered. We’re excited to deepen our work with Google to deliver new innovations that push the boundaries of what’s possible for transportation, delivery and more.”
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
I’ve chosen to run these complete comments from Khosrowshahi because I believe they represent what business customers truly want from the cloud today: speed, innovation, ideas, superb customer experiences, bigger and broader opportunities, expanded vision, and as I’ve noted before, a big shift in perceptions of what is possible versus what is impossible.
No talk from the Uber CEO about megawatts or clusters — and while those issues are certainly extremely vital at some level, the cloud now represents something that goes far beyond the core technology and instead encompasses outcomes like “revolutionizing the way people, products, and services move across continents and through cities” and the chance to “deliver new innovations that push the boundaries of what’s possible for transportation, delivery and more.”
In another indication of the significance of this deal and what it represents for each provider, both Google Cloud and Oracle featured top executives in their respective announcements.
For Google Cloud, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai described the impact that other parts of Google will play in this new Uber engagement.
“We look forward to expanding our collaboration with Uber to deploy our cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and edge networking solutions,” Pichai said. “This partnership is bringing together the best of Google technology across Cloud, Maps, Ads and more to help Uber continue to improve the customer experience for their users.”
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet
From Oracle, CEO Safra Catz called the Uber deal “a landmark competitive win.”
“Uber is expanding into a ‘go anywhere, get anything’ platform, and the company needed a cloud partner that shares a relentless focus on innovation,” said Catz. “This landmark competitive win for OCI is further validation of the momentum and acceleration we are experiencing in the market. Enterprises, governments, and startups around the world are recognizing the differentiation of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and experiencing our performance, security, and economic benefits versus other hyperscalers.”
Safra Katz, CEO of Oracle
Why did Uber choose Google Cloud? — an interview with a Google employee
The materials provided below by Umesh Vemuri, Vice President of Google Cloud for global strategic clients and industries, give a compelling idea of the rapidly growing customer expectations in the acceleration economy, as well as the new types of opportunities that world-class cloud service providers should offer.
Greatly Expanded Role
I opened by asking Vemuri how this new engagement with Uber differs from what Google Cloud has done for Uber in the past.
“Uber had previously leveraged individual solutions such as Google’s edge network and Cloud Spanner to address specific technical and business requirements,” Vemuri said in the email exchange.
“This new partnership greatly expands the scope of the partnership to include hosting Uber’s data platform, some core infrastructure, and Google Security tools. The new partnership represents a philosophical shift and trust in Google to facilitate Uber’s commitment to move out of the data center and entirely to Cloud. Google is excited to continue to support the modernization of Uber’s global infrastructure by bringing to bear the power of Google’s portfolio across Cloud, Ads and Google Maps Platform in an integrated, strategic approach that will transform Uber’s customer experience and supercharge growth globally.”
Hosting Uber’s Data-Cloud Infrastructure
I then asked Vemuri to go into more detail on Uber’s decision to have Google Cloud host its data-cloud infrastructure.
“Uber’s business model depends on data-driven decision-making and on-demand optimization,” Vemuri wrote.
“The company’s data platform tracks billions of daily events and organizes that data into a platform leveraged by users around the world. Therefore, the data infrastructure that hosts and powers these engines is fundamental to every aspect of Uber’s business. Data signals are incorporated throughout their platform to inform dynamic pricing, predict wait times, and match supply and demand. Moving their data and services to Google Cloud also supports Uber’s future growth strategy by increasing flexibility, scalability and providing immediate access to technology advances.”
Uber CEO’s Focus on Innovation and Growth
“CEOs who work with Google Cloud are able to partner not only on the cloud infrastructure which will power their business’ growth, but they also receive Google’s direct consulting and support for their modernization and innovation goals,” Vemuri said. “For Uber, the transition away from self-managing infrastructure will unlock new efficiencies and enable Uber engineers to focus more on launching new customer and business services that drive new revenue streams.”
Competitive Differentiation
Vemuri continued: “Uber’s infrastructure team completed rigorous technical POCs and validation of the strengths of GCP’s services relative to its competitors. In addition to demonstrating functional and performance benefits for the GCP services in scope, Google recommended future-state architecture that will enable Uber’s scale as well as its ability to bring features to users while reducing latency and improving security.”
Working in Concert with the Other Major Provider Picked by Uber: Oracle
Asked how Google Cloud and Oracle will work together to ensure seamless integration of their services for Uber, Vemuri was rather brief. “We work in environments with other cloud providers, as very few customers have a single cloud provider; this is nothing new.”
Uber Could have picked Microsoft and/or AWS — Why Google Cloud (and Oracle)?
While I feel Vemuri offered compelling insights across all of my questions, I thought his response on this one was particularly good as it showcased not only a truly unique competitive advantage that Google has but also touched on several high-level issues business leaders in every industry must solve for simultaneously in today’s disruptive times.
“For starters, we bring the innovation of Google,” Vemuri said.
“Customers choose us because we bring together innovations from across Google to deliver some of the industry’s leading cloud technologies built on global infrastructure that delivers high levels of performance and availability.
“Looking ahead, every company must become a tech company or get disrupted. This is why we partner closely with organizations to help them become the best tech company in their industry, and build a transformation cloud that accelerates their innovation through data democratization, app and infrastructure modernization, people connections, and trusted transactions—all on the industry’s cleanest cloud. The result is an organization that can take advantage of all the benefits of cloud computing to drive innovation, generate new revenue streams, and adapt quickly to market changes and customer needs.”