Public cloud spend in Europe to reach $113bn in 2022 - IDC

Figures suggest Saas will enjoy the bulk of investment while Paas has been billed as the fastest-growing area

Public cloud services spend in Europe is set to reach $113bn (€111bn) in 2022 and will double to $239bn (€235bn) by 2026.

According to IDC's Worldwide Public Cloud Services Spending Guide, the growth rate represents a 22 per cent five-year 2021-2026 CAGR.

The researcher claims investments in software-as-a-service (SaaS) will continue to lead most of the spending, but pegs platform-as-a-services (PaaS) to be the fastest-growing segment.

IDC explained PaaS enables business agility by allowing companies to quickly test and implement applications they have developed.

"European companies want to automate their processes as they are experiencing market challenges including supply chain disruption and skill shortages," said IDC UK senior research analyst, Andrea Minonne.

"More frequently companies will adopt Cloud to create a solid real-time data analysis foundation that support business agility and resilience."

The analyst firm highlighted professional services, banking, and discrete manufacturing to be among the top spenders in public cloud services, absorbing almost 60 per cent of the overall spend in 2022.

It added that "human-centric industries" are adjusting their work policies to normalise remote working, meaning more attention to remote employee access to information will drive spending in cloud solutions.

Implementing digital-first and cloud-based strategies will continue to be a focus, with IDC forecasting European PCS spend (excluding Russia) to grow 26.4 per cent this year, showing that cloud will be resilient despite the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Similarly, Russian investments in cloud solutions are expected to grow 7.7 per cent year on year in 2022, but with many companies pulling out of the country, growth will be slower than the rest of Europe.