Global spending on cloud computing is expected to increase in 2021, in part due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to new figures from Gartner, end-user spending on public cloud services is expected to grow by 18,4% in 2021, from €257.5 billion to €304.9 billion. Taking a closer look at which cloud segments are expected to benefit the most, it appears that platform-as-a-service offerings will see the strongest growth, with forecasts estimating their end-user spending will increase by 26% in 6. However, software as a service will remain the largest segment of the cloud market, reaching a value of €2021 billion.
A post-Covid plan
The coronavirus pandemic has forced businesses to perform a difficult financial balancing act. On the one hand, they need to cut costs to offset falling demand, but many also need to invest in digital technologies to enable remote working. In the long term, the cloud helps achieve both goals, allowing companies to optimize their IT costs while ensuring the security of their employees. In its new report, "Forecast: Public Cloud Services, Worldwide, 2018-2024, 3Q20 Update," Gartner said it expects public cloud growth to continue through 2024, with enterprise investment. In mobility, collaboration and remote work are unlikely to decline even when the pandemic is over. In fact, in a post-COVID world, with many companies looking to quickly return to growth, investing in the cloud could be the best approach. “The pandemic has validated the value proposition of the cloud,” said Sid Nag, research vice president at Gartner. “The ability to use scalable, on-demand cloud models to achieve profitability and business continuity provides the impetus for companies to rapidly accelerate their digital transformation plans. The increased use of public cloud services has driven cloud adoption to become the "new normal" more than ever. "