Global cloud services spend soars to $55.9bn in Q1 2022 - Canalys
The analyst highlighted SMB procurement as a key driver of investment, while AWS topped the list of cloud providers
Global cloud infrastructure services spending surged 34 per cent to $55.9bn in the first quarter of 2022 as organisations prioritised digitalisation strategies to meet market challenges, according to Canalys.
The latest data from the analyst firm estimates expenditure was over $2bn more than in the previous quarter and $14bn more than in Q1 2021.
The analyst firm added the top three cloud service providers have benefited from increased adoption and scale, collectively growing 42 per cent year on year and accounting for 62 per cent of global customer spend.
Canalys highlighted cloud-enabled business transformation as a priority for organisations that face global supply chain issues, cybersecurity threats and geopolitical instability.
It claims SMBs, in particular, have driven investment in cloud infrastructure services to support workload migration, data storage services and cloud-native application development.
At the same time, infrastructure hardware shortages and the threat of further price inflation has spurred many large enterprises to invest in large-scale, multi-year cloud contracts to lock in upfront discounts with the hyperscalers.
All the major cloud providers have seen a significant rise in order backlogs as a result, which now total several hundred billion dollars worldwide, which Canalys claims is in turn is driving the importance of cloud marketplaces as a sales channel for third-party software and security.
"Cloud has continued to be a hot market and transformation strategies are emphasising digital resiliency to face the market challenges of today and tomorrow," said Canalys research analyst Blake Murray.
"To be effective in resiliency planning, customers are turning to channel partners with the technical and consulting skills to help them effectively embrace hyperscaler cloud services."
How is this affecting partners?
Canalys claims top cloud partners are doubling down on certification efforts and skills recruitment around hyperscaler cloud services.
Global systems integrators, including Accenture, Atos, Deloitte, HCL Technologies, TCS, Kyndryl, Tech Mahindra and Wipro, are building practices with tens of thousands of cloud engineers and consultants.
This has also included acquisitions of cloud application development and migration specialists, as well as the launch of new dedicated cloud services brands.
Smaller consultants, resellers, service providers and distributors are pursuing similar strategies as mid-market and SMB customers also demand support with cloud adoption.
Leading providers
AWS came out as the top cloud service provider in Q1 2022, accounting for 33 per cent of total spend after growing 37 per cent on an annual basis, according to Canalys data.
Microsoft Azure was the second largest cloud service provider in Q1, growing by 46 per cent to take a 21 per cent market share.
An acceleration in large, long-term cloud contracts has contributed to that growth, with Microsoft doubling the number of Azure contracts more than $100m compared with Q1 last year.
Google Cloud was the fastest growing of the top three, swelling 54 per cent in the latest quarter to make up eight per cent of the market.
Canalys says the group continues to focus on digital sovereignty, analytics, AI and cybersecurity as key differentiators for GCP, advancing its cloud cybersecurity practice with the acquisition of Mandiant, which should close later this year.