MUMBAI: For start-ups in India and around the world, the emergence of cloud-computing services to build and scale business has been an incredible advantage, allowing entrepreneurs to work immediately on a great idea without worrying about the time it would take to set up a new server or other digital infrastructure. There are several different players in this field, but Amazon Web Services (AWS) is currently the biggest cloud-computing provider, offering more than 70 services for computing, storage, databases and analytics.
As attractive as using AWS is for start-ups, it can sometimes be restrictive for the simple reason that you need a credit card to activate the services and controlling costs thereafter can be a problem. A US-based company called SD Squared has recently launched a new cloud management platform for start-ups called CloudOps.ai which is designed to help start-ups, especially in markets like India, to control and manage cloud costs on AWS. As part of ClouOps.ai, SD Squared has also launched a new prepaid wallet that gives customers the option of avoiding ‘bill shock’.
The biggest advantage of the service, according to Sachin Duggal, co-founder of SD Squared, is that whether you are a two-man shop in a garage or a big enterprise, you will have access to the same workflow and services. Speaking to The Hindu about the launch of CloudOps.ai, Mr. Duggal said he had spoken with many enterprises, small and big, that had trouble managing costs.
“Services on the cloud are unmetered. So we’d heard countless stories of founders who had just used their credit card and by the evening, the card got maxed out, possibly because somebody had left a server running or something and these services are billed by the hour. In India, these problems are even bigger, because you have guys who have an idea, but don’t have a credit card. Or they have a credit card but don’t want to use it, or they don’t have enough of a credit limit.”
CloudOps.ai hopes to make AWS more accessible because SD Squared has the ability to buy those services in bulk and then pass on some of those benefits to their 500 customers on a pay-per-service basis.
“What we created was an upfront cloud wallet that can be topped up through netbanking, or through cheques or even credit cards and the services will be used only up to the amount the wallet is topped up with,’ he says.
Crucially, the wallet service opens up an option for early-stage start-ups to use the ‘free tier’ in AWS. The tier offers 750 hours of services for free, but the user still needs a credit card to access it just in case the usage goes over. With the cloud wallet, even if a user puts in ₹500, SD Squared provides the guarantee to AWS.
“That’s a very large population of start-ups that can benefit from the free tier, and we are unlocking that option. It gives these enterprises a lot of freedom because you can have an idea, and no matter how small or big you are, you can have your digital infrastructure up and running in ten minutes by signing on to AWS,” Mr. Duggal says.
SD Squared is headquartered in California, but has it’s biggest office in Gurugram as many of its services are being targeted towards start-ups in emerging markets. It has already worked with start-ups in India like healthhunt.in and POPxo, clients who have used their prepaid wallet model and have then migrated out.
Users, Mr. Duggal says, can eventually shift from a prepaid to a post-paid plan for AWS. SD Squared is now looking to expand its services across the ASEAN market by launching in Malaysia first and expanding later in the year to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
