In April 2020, a few months into the pandemic, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that the company had witnessed two years of digital transformation in a matter of two months. However, this accelerated transformation wasn’t limited to Microsoft.
In October 2020, a study by McKinsey & Company showed that “across regions, the results suggest seven-year increase, on average, in the rate in which companies are developing these [digital] products and services.”
It was pandemic-related lockdowns and restrictions that forced people to work from home and consumers to migrate online. For businesses to survive the global health crisis, they needed to shift to digital and cloud solutions. A Flexera survey from 2020 revealed that 27% of leaders reported a significant increase in cloud spending.
It was pandemic-related lockdowns and restrictions that forced people to work from home and consumers to migrate online. For businesses to survive the global health crisis, they needed to shift to digital and cloud solutions. A Flexera survey from 2020 revealed that 27% of leaders reported a significant increase in cloud spending.
Even the public sector’s cloud adoption was accelerated by the pandemic to meet the urgent needs of citizens and keep services running. This reflected in the budget allocations and spendings on cloud services and infrastructure.
This is not to dismiss the challenges that persist and include concerns over cybersecurity that providers are rushing to address. Another challenge includes a cloud-skills gap and difficulty in finding skilled talent. Solutions have included internal training and upskilling.
Despite the challenges, growth persists. Gartner calls the cloud “the centerpiece of new digital experiences” due to the ongoing pandemic and surge in digital services. They forecast that global cloud revenue will increase to a total $474 billion in 2022 from $408 billion in 2021. More and more organizations will make cloud adoption a priority in the next couple of years.
