Banking on the cloud

Vatsun Thirapatarapong, country manager of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Thailand, has made a big bet on the country with a hefty investment from the parent company to capitalise on growth opportunities in cloud adoption.

After operating in Thailand for seven years, last year AWS, the cloud computing arm of Amazon, announced a plan to invest US$5 billion in Thailand over the next 15 years.

This represents its biggest investment in Thailand, which includes capital expenditure on the construction of data centres and operational expenses.

The company sees opportunities in Thailand as the government supports businesses that invest in the country, Mr Vatsun told the Bangkok Post.

Thailand also has a strong infrastructure and interconnectivity, he said.

Mr Vatsun, who has been with AWS for almost three years, said AWS has continued to expand in Thailand since 2015, in line with the growth of the cloud service adoption in the country.

He said the construction of a hyperscale data centre requires capital intensive investment and long-term commitment.

"Cloud is a growing area and we cannot grow alone but through building an ecosystem with partners, distributor channels and customers of all sizes, to grow together during the journey," he said.

Mr Vatsun initiated a distributor model by appointing the company's cloud service distributors, a shift from mainly relying only its own resources, to reach out to thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). He said the distributor model works well in Thailand and supports the company's business growth.

The company has various customers, ranging from large enterprises to SMEs and startups.

Mr Vatsun said he must keep "relearning" in order to learn new things, given that any technology can become obsolete one day.

"Personally, I do not prioritise technology but focus on customers first by looking at their preferences, solving their problems and strengthening their competitiveness," Mr Vatsun said, adding that his management is in line with AWS's customer-centric leadership principles.

"We think in the long term, looking at the big picture, taking a deep dive and also paying back to society and employees," he said.

Mr Vatsun said in general cloud adoption globally has three phases, beginning with customers' embrace of the cloud infrastructure as a service, followed by the phase of using of advanced applications on the cloud such as data analytics. The third phase is the adoption of the intelligence cloud.

Thailand is still largely in the second phase, while the adoption of the intelligence cloud is in the early stage, he said.

Skilled workforce

Mr Vatsun said Thailand’s digital economy has emerged from the pandemic stronger than before but the demand for cloud adoption continues to outpace the number of available cloud-savvy workers, leaving organisations struggling to find the talent to handle cloud service usage.

According to Gallup research, 94% of Thai businesses find it challenging to hire digital workers.

For the first time in Thailand, the company has launched the AWS re/Start skills-based workforce development programme. It prepares the underemployed and the unemployed for new careers in cloud computing, providing them with interview opportunities with potential employers.

The scheme also covers the cost for participants taking the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification examination, so they can validate their cloud skills with an industry-recognised credential.

INVESTING IN INFRASTRUCTURE

Mr Vatsun said the cloud first policy will support the growth of cloud service use, attract more investment by foreign cloud service providers and make Thailand the digital hub in Asean.

AWS is investing in computing infrastructure such as central processing unit-based data centres.

The company also has the potential to invest in graphics processing unit-based data centres to support the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and other AI application usage in Thailand in future phases, said Mr Vatsun.

He said Thailand should provide more skill training, promote digitisation in industry and equip SMEs with digital tools to lift the country's competitiveness.