Headcount: 25 (+317%)
Specialism: AWS consultancy
HQ: Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Born in 2018 after its two founders spent five minutes scratching out some drawings of clouds and bridges on a beer mat, this globe-trotting AWS consultancy now employs 95 staff.
The numbers this ranking is based on – covering its fiscal 2019 to 2022 – do its size little justice (it more than quadrupled headcount to 25 during this period).
Having sold a minority stake to Bytes Technology Group in April 2023, Cloud Bridge is aiming to launch offices in UAE, South Africa, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan in 2024, Managing Director Simon Walker told us.
Q&A with MD Simon Walker
What lies behind Cloud Bridge’s lightning headcount growth?
We focus purely on AWS mastery and being the best at it. AWS is a complex partner to work with so competitors that juggle multi-vendor cloud solutions lack our laser focus and ability to keep pace with AWS’ ever-changing services and solutions, particularly as developments in AI race ahead.
As the needs of our customers evolve, so do we. Five years ago, it was all about lift & shift migration and basic FinOps. Today, it’s about modernisation and scalable design before migration, along with proactive, dynamic, and automated FinOps solutions.
Without proper architecture and a solid FinOps solution, the cloud can end up costing more. Our expertise in containerisation and managing expensive workloads makes us the ideal choice for customers looking to optimise costs. As we’ve grown, we’ve expanded our team to ensure we can continue to support our customer’s needs more effectively.
What do you see as your biggest growth opportunity for the next 12 months?
Advancing our dynamic FinOps solutions. Specifically, we’re focusing on orchestrated offerings like storage management and container management.
Security as a Service. With the integration of AI in attack vectors, the demand for enhanced security solutions is expected to rise.
Managed Services is a growing area for us. More and more customers are looking to offload the complexities of AWS architecture so they can concentrate on developing their business apps. We’re here to take care of the technical nitty-gritty, allowing our clients to focus on what they do best: growing their businesses.
We’re currently investing in and testing AWS’s portfolio of AI technologies. Our focus is on leveraging data analytics and machine learning models against SMBs’ own data, as we believe this is where the real value lies. While we’re not fully there yet, we’ve already developed several beta services using various AWS AI cloud technologies, and the interest they’re generating is promising.
2024 would be a successful year if…
Aside from benefitting from a stable macroeconomic climate amidst potential instability from major global players like Russia and the US, a successful 2024 for Cloud Bridge means continuing to set the standard in cloud services, especially with our AWS AI offerings moving from promising betas to industry staples.
Our goals include significant growth in both our team and client roster, establishing ourselves as the preferred partner in cloud transformation. We’re aiming to move from Advanced to Premium Partner, establishing ourselves as a true global player and one of the go-to partners for AWS. We’re expanding (with AWS support) into other territories with offices in UAE, South Africa and Philippines with Saudi, Singapore, Malaysia & Japan, so getting those offices launched successfully is key for 2024. Wherever AWS is we can provide our extensive services offerings.
What’s a strange or interesting fact about Cloud Bridge most people won’t know?
That we set up in 2018 with just 2 people and the name CB was scratched out on a beer mat following some drawings of clouds and bridges, we spent about 5 mins on it in total! We now employ 95 team members across the UK, UAE, Philippines and South Africa. Still independently owned by the original founders, Simon Walker and Adam Thornton and recently sold a minority stake to an investor business. Despite the geographical spread, we place a huge emphasis on creating a connected team and a fun environment to work. Every other week we have a Teams call with every single person joining, plus various fun events throughout the year, including trips to the Philippines for the UK team and vice versa. We value every one of our staff and pride ourselves on retaining talented, happy employees.
