Article

Mike Owen
Mike Owen 15 June 2015
Categories

Cloud Services Market Set To Grow - And Grow

For small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), all roads lead to cloud-based services to meet their high-growth needs.

For small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), all roads lead to cloud-based services to meet their high-growth needs.



According to a recent report by Odin , SMBs in the U.S. are increasingly relying on cloud service providers (CSPs) to help accelerate their growth, manage infrastructure and provide a consistent customer experience.

The report projects that the SMB cloud services market will grow at an 11.4% compound annual growth rate – from $25.2bn in 2015 to $34.9bn in 2018. Odin defines four key categories of cloud-based services, representing the most significant growth-drivers for SMBs:

  • Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS): cloud-based business servers, add-on applications and services for hosted IT infrastructure such as control panels, development platforms, security, and server backup.

  • Web presence and web applications: third-party web hosting, domain registration, and web applications including tools like content management systems (CMS), e-commerce platforms, web server security and backup.

  • Unified communications: business-class email services, mobility and hosted business voice services, and communication and collaboration applications such as web and phone conferencing, and mobile device management (MDM).

  • Business applications (also known as software-as-a-service or SaaS): business software applications that can be accessed online covering needs such as customer relationship management (CRM), payroll and human resources (HR), support and help desk, and virtual desktop (VDI).

While the figures from the States are particularly promising, the cloud adoption trend isn’t confined to North America. Putting a global perspective on the cloud landscape, the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC) reveals that Western Europe is expected to see the biggest surge in cloud IT infrastructure spending in 2015, with a growth rate of 32% – closely followed by Latin America (23%) and Japan (22%).

Kuba Storlarski, research manager at International Data Corporation, comments: “The pace of adoption of cloud-based platforms will not abate for quite some time, resulting in cloud IT infrastructure expansion continuing to outpace the growth of the overall IT infrastructure market for the foreseeable future.”

DAs the data reflects, increasing numbers of organisations are realising that “traditional” in-house infrastructure management simply doesn’t stack up against the simplicity, flexibility and scalability of the cloud.

However, Odin’s report also threw up some interesting insights on key areas for improvement most frequently requested of CSPs. Improving performance (23%), the support experience (22%) and addressing security (21%) were the top three – illustrating that CSPs can’t afford to rest on their laurels and rely on guaranteed demand. As the market grows and becomes increasingly competitive, CSPs will have to work hard to win and retain custom by providing exceptional levels of uptime, value for money and customer service.

At censhare, we’re proud to deliver a flexible cloud offering that enables our clients to seamlessly integrate intelligent business communication solutions for engaging customer experiences into an existing IT infrastructure. censhare Cloud uses market-leading Amazon Web Services for its application-oriented cloud solutions, ensuring global reach, 100 percent availability and low latency.

To find out more about how censhare cloud, SaaS and on-premises solutions can enable businesses of all sizes to grow – and to identify the best option for any given company – take a look at the range of customised censhare solutions.

Original Post

 

Read More on Digital Doughnut

Please login or register to add a comment.

Contribute Now!

Loving our articles? Do you have an insightful post that you want to shout about? Well, you've come to the right place! We are always looking for fresh Doughnuts to be a part of our community.

Popular Articles

See all
The Impact of New Technology on Marketing

The Impact of New Technology on Marketing

Technology has impacted every part of our lives. From household chores to business disciplines and etiquette, there's a gadget or app for it. Marketing has changed dramatically over the years, but what is the...

Alex Lysak
Alex Lysak 3 April 2024
Read more
How to Review a Website — A Guide for Beginners

How to Review a Website — A Guide for Beginners

A company website is crucial for any business's digital marketing strategy. To keep up with the changing trends and customer buying behaviors, it's important to review and make necessary changes regularly...

Digital Doughnut Contributor
Digital Doughnut Contributor 25 March 2024
Read more
Instagram Growth Strategies: 9 Practical Ways to Maximize Engagement and Growth

Instagram Growth Strategies: 9 Practical Ways to Maximize Engagement and Growth

Effective Instagram growth strategies are essential for maximizing your marketing campaign, increasing engagement, and boosting conversions. Think of your Instagram strategy for business growth as a campfire. It doesn...

Mos Clement
Mos Clement 26 January 2024
Read more
10 Factors that Influence Customer Buying Behaviour Online

10 Factors that Influence Customer Buying Behaviour Online

Now is an era where customers take the center stags influencing business strategies across industries. No business can afford to overlook factors that could either break the customer experience or even pose a risk of...

Edward Roesch
Edward Roesch 4 June 2018
Read more
7 Reasons Why Social Media Marketing is Important For Your Business

7 Reasons Why Social Media Marketing is Important For Your Business

In the past two decades social media has become a crucial tool for marketers, enabling businesses to connect with potential customers. If your business has yet to embrace social media and you want to know why it is...

Sharron Nelson
Sharron Nelson 29 February 2024
Read more