Google Cloud Joins Mexico's Market While Facing Trust Issues
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Google Cloud Joins Mexico's Market While Facing Trust Issues

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Andrea Villar By Andrea Villar | Journalist and Industry Analyst - Wed, 11/13/2019 - 19:00

Google Cloud is already fighting for cloud services around the world, but this time it is betting on Mexico's market, which is considered key to the company’s business. This is one of the reasons why the company appointed Julio Velázquez as its first Director of Google Cloud Mexico.

Velázquez served as VP of Sales of Cloud Solutions for Enterprise and Commercial Market at IBM. In this new role, Velázquez will meet new colleagues at the company. The first one is Eduardo López who joined the team in June as the Google Cloud Commercial Leader for Latin America. 

López and Velázquez will be led by Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s work ethic and vision. Kurian joined Google in November 2018. Previously he was President of Product Development at Oracle. With his appointment, Kurian “changed everything” in the fight with Amazon, Deutsche Bank research analyst Lloyd Walmsley wrote in a note for clients. 

But Alphabet’s subsidiary is not only investing in leadership hires but also on its Cloud Infrastructure. Between 2016 and 2018 Google invested US$47 billion in CAPEX. According to Deutsche Bank data, Google Cloud is poised to go from its current revenue of US$8 billion cloud business to nearly US$17 billion in 2021. 

For Google, there is a treacherous road ahead when it comes to winning potential clients. Some of Google Cloud's recent major customers in Mexico include Coppel, GNP and Yalochat. 

“It still doesn't have as many deals with large enterprises, but these companies are starting to at least consider Google Cloud. The platform also has an advantage because it's known for being friendly with developers, who are becoming more influential in picking what cloud to use,” Deutsche Bank analysts said in a letter to its clients. 

A rigorous game 

But not everything is a bed of roses for Google since the company is not the only player in the field and it will need to catch up to Amazon, Alibaba and Microsoft, which already have a big slice of the pie.

 
 

 

Google also faces trust issues when it comes to collecting and handling data. Even though the company cannot use the information provided by their accounts for other commercial purposes, such as targeted advertising, the company is also facing backlash after The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that its partnership with hospital network Ascension enabled it to gather personal health data on millions of patients without their knowledge or consent,  but the companies claim it is all legal.

"Our work with Ascension is exactly that - a business arrangement to help a provider with the latest technology, similar to the work we do with dozens of other healthcare providers. This is standard practice in healthcare, as patient data is frequently managed in electronic systems that nurses and doctors widely use to deliver patient care," Google Cloud President Tariq Shaukat said in a blog post. 

According to CNBC, if Google cannot figure out how to address privacy concerns over health data, its cloud business will have a hard time selling. The clock is ticking, there are large accounts yet to be won and please concerned customers about the management of their data. 

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