Amazon’s AWS cloud platform is by definition a “horizontal” offering. “Horizontal” in that it is industry agnostic. Beginning with the Automotive vertical, AWS is deploying a “verticalization” strategy that layers industry vertical capability on top of its core horizontal offering to differentiate from competitors.
We wrote about AWS’ relationship with VW last year. Today, Toyota and Amazon announced that Amazon’s AWS cloud unit would work with Toyota to build a cloud platform that will enable Toyota to manage and monetize the data it gathers from its global automobile fleet. Toyota said its Mobility Services Platform (“MSPF”), will analyze vehicle data and leverage those learnings in the development of services including ride sharing, behavior-based insurance and maintenance notifications and more.
This win is a luxury afforded to cloud platform players that operate at scale: AWS, Azure and GCP qualify. If you are a religious reader of TEK2day you know that we prefer Technology companies that invest heavily in R&D to drive innovation. Had SAP and Solera invested more aggressively in broadly-defined cloud operations a decade ago both companies would have been well-positioned to win the VW and Toyota business. Kudos to Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy for keeping their foot on the AWS investment pedal and for deploying a verticalization strategy to out-flank the competition.