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29 Impressive Cloud Computing Statistics [Updated for 2024]

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February 24, 2021

Today, we’re going to look at the most fascinating and insightful cloud computing statistics available out there at present.

First things first, though:

You may have never even heard the term cloud computing. Or, if you have, you may be completely unaware of what it means.

But don’t worry! Here’s a quick rundown before we go on to explore the new development in cloud computing and the associated stats.

Cloud computing involves a company using several remote servers, which are hosted online, to process, manage, and store a range of data. Traditionally, this was achieved through a local server or PC.

Fascinating Cloud Computing Facts for 2020 and Beyond (Editor’s Picks)

  • 92% of organizations surveyed use some form of cloud service according to the most up to date cloud computing figures.
  • Cloud computing has the most measurable impact on a business, as mentioned by 74% of tech chief financial officers.
  • Cloud is expected to grow from $257.5 billion in 2020 to $304.9 billion in total worldwide revenue in 2021, representing an 18% growth.
  • By 2020, the percentage of workloads in the cloud is expected to be 83%, the latest cloud computing statistics reveal.
  • The biggest concern in adopting enterprise cloud computing strategies or systems according to 66% of IT professionals is the security risk it may pose.
  • Cloud computing trends for 2020 and 2021 show the growing importance of edge computing.
  • 87% of global IT experts agree that organizations will migrate to the cloud faster due to the pandemic.
  • The average enterprise suffers 23.2 cloud-related threats per month.

Business Cloud Computings Facts and Figures

There are many advantages of cloud computing for businesses over storing files on a PC or local server, as we can see from the cloud computing statistics available out there. These include:

  • Reduced costs on maintenance and purchasing of equipment.
  • Advanced security features, so unauthorized access can be minimized.
  • Being able to scale up and down IT systems according to demand.
  • Providing access to data through mobile devices.
  • The ability to recover data if a disaster occurs.

The flipside is that the security aspect of cloud computing is still somewhat underdeveloped. In fact, a data breach costs a company a whopping $3.86 million on average. The majority of this has been caused by employee error.

With that in mind, let’s get cracking with the latest cloud technology facts:

1.The cloud computing market size was estimated at $257.5 billion in 2020. 

(Statista, LogicMonitor)

As the vast cloud computing market is growing rapidly, an overwhelming majority (74%) of global experts predict that 95% of public, private, and hybrid workloads will run in the cloud within the next five years.

2. 92% of large enterprises ran at least some of their workloads in the cloud in 2020.

(IDG, Forbes)

While commonly cited data put the percentage at 83%, the latest information shows that 92% of organizations’ IT environments are at least somewhat in the cloud today. The demand will keep growing as cloud services help organizations handle remote work more efficiently.

3. 55% of organizations used multiple public clouds in 2020.

(ParkMyCloud, Statista)

In a survey, which looked into the number of people using a multi-cloud strategy, the highest percentage of organizations who use multiple clouds uses two clouds, while 21% of them responded with three or more.

The use of hybrid clouds was also noted as being popular within a multi-cloud environment, according to a recent cloud computing stats survey.

Hybrid cloud computing was used by 87% of enterprises who developed a cloud computing strategy.

4. The highest cloud computing market share in 2020 belonged to Amazon.

(Synergy Research Group)

In the fourth quarter of 2020, Amazon Web Services held 32% of the global cloud computing market (IaaS and PaaS). It was followed by Azure with 20% of the market share and Google Cloud with 9% of the market.

5. 80% of enterprises use Amazon Web Services.

(Contino)

Considering that the vast majority of the professionals surveyed either use or are considering making use of Amazon Web Services, it should come as no surprise AWS is the most popular platform available out there.

According to the latest cloud computing market trends, Microsoft Azure is also popular, with 45% of respondents saying they currently use it, and 22% experimenting with it for potential future use within the enterprise they work.

Google is not among the two most popular cloud platforms. Only 18% said they currently use it, and 23% said they might do so in the future.

6. The SaaS market was estimated at $157 billion in 2020.

(Synergy Research Group, Statista)

This is one of the most important facts about cloud computing you’re likely to come across.

The largest segment of cloud computing falls under the umbrella of Software as a Service, otherwise known as SaaS. Being responsible for more than half the total cloud computing revenue worldwide, it’s the fastest-growing service, growing in revenue each year by 32%.

7. According to cloud computing stats, the insurance industry has the highest adoption of hybrid cloud platforms at 73%.

(Forbes)

Other industries which capitalize well on hybrid platforms include retail and logistics (66%), manufacturing (65%), utilities (62%), and finally software and technology (59%). Fewer of these industries use private cloud platforms which range in uptake of between 18% and 21%.

The least popular cloud platforms within these industries are public ones ranging between 9% and 21%. In our opinion, these are some of the most interesting facts about computing and cloud infrastructure available out there.

8. India will spend $4.1 billion on cloud services in 2021.

(Gartner)

Despite India having poor high-speed internet connections, along with a problematic power supply, bandwidth, and fiber connections, development in these areas is expected to improve.

Cloud services continued to expand in 2020, when revenue reached an impressive $3.2 billion—a significant increase from just $2.8 billion back in 2019. This is just one of the many fun facts about cloud computing we discovered.

How Much Money is Being Spent on Cloud Computing at the Minute?

9. In 2021, global end-user spending on cloud computing is expected to grow 18%.

(Gartner)

The rise of remote work drove the need for a widespread optimization of IT costs and efficiency in 2020. Cloud computing helped resolve most of the related issues, and it did so well that, according to a Gartner survey, 70% of organizations who already used cloud computing intend to invest even more resources in it.

10. Cloud computing growth statistics for 2020 show that the desktop-as-a-service segment grew 95.4% last year.

(Statista)

The growing need for remote work and safe and effective IT services helped DaaS practically double in 2020. By using virtual desktop infrastructures which are based in the cloud, organizations enable their employees to access their work environments anywhere.

On the other hand, this enables organizations to handle their IT infrastructure in the cloud, improving the security and stability of their work environments. So when it comes to the growth of cloud computing, stats show this segment is expected to grow in 2021 too, at a growth rate of 61.5%.

11. Revenue from Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) was estimated at $51.4 billion in 2020.

(Statista)

IaaS was one of the fastest-growing segments, with an estimated revenue of up to $51.4 billion in 2020. In 2021, IaaS is expected to grow by 27% according to cloud computing statistics.

12. $216 billion is expected to be spent on the cloud by 2022.

(Data Center Knowledge)

On a global scale, the cloud computing industry growth is constant in most segments. As maintenance and development costs grow, so does the demand. For example, back in 2015, the spending on cloud services was $67 billion.

By 2022, this figure is expected to reach a mind-blowing $216 billion.

13. Compared to cloud computing statistics in 2014, the UK government started spending more than double on the cloud.

(TechRadar)

The process of migrating to the cloud has been a long one, but the UK has been spending over £1 billion a year to make sure it goes smoothly. Between 2017 and 2018, the government invested £1.1 billion on software, hosting, and support.

Then, by April 2019, a further investment by Westminster in the order of £1.3 billion was made, reflected by cloud computing statistics 2019.

14. The average enterprise cloud budget increased to $2.2 million by 2018.

(PredictX)

An IDG study indicated that cloud computing spending by businesses grew from $1.62 million back in 2016 to $2.2 million in 2018. Of course, the results vary considerably between companies. For example, SMBs invested around $889,000, whereas the larger enterprises invested much more at $3.5 million on average, cloud computing market stats confirm.

15. By 2022, the global public cloud service will be worth a whopping $331.2 billion.

(Impact, Statista)

This is an improvement from the $182.4 billion figure back in 2018. Equally, the compound annual growth rate is expected to increase during the same period by 12.6%. However, according to cloud computing growth statistics for 2021, the market is growing at an 18.4% rate.

Cloud Computing Statistics - Office

The Growing Popularity of Cloud Computing

16. 87% of global IT experts agree that organizations will migrate to the cloud faster due to the pandemic.

(LogicMonitor)

Increased remote work, collaborative tools, the spike in ecommerce, and privacy concerns during the global crisis push organizations towards cloud computing to reduce workload and increase their efficiency. This increasing demand will be driving the growth of cloud computing for the foreseeable future.

17. 77% of enterprises use at least one cloud-based app.

(Abiquo)

Over three-quarters of companies now use at least one cloud-based app. Next year, this figure is expected to rise even further by as much as 15%.

18. The average enterprise uses 1,427 cloud services, according to statistics on cloud computing adoption.

(McAfee)

The average enterprise employee uses up to 36 cloud services in total, including 9 platforms for collaboration, 6 file-sharing platforms, and 5 content writing platforms. What’s more, an entire enterprise uses around 210 collaboration cloud-based services as well as 76% file-sharing services. These figures are based on current cloud adoption statistics.

19. Amazon owns the largest amount of the existing cloud infrastructure.

(MarketWatch)

Amazon Web Services accounts for 41.5% of the entire public cloud market, with more than 1 million active users across 190 countries. As a company, it has 5 times more infrastructure than its remaining 14 competitors combined.

Back in 2018, its parent company Amazon earned $26 billion in revenue, a fact we discovered by looking into past cloud computing trends.

20. The UK is the sixth largest cloud consumer in Europe.

(CloudPro)

In the EU, Finland has the highest uptake in cloud services at 65.3%, followed by Sweden at 57.2%, and Denmark at 55.6%. The UK’s adoption rate is lower at 41.9%. The EU average stands at 26.2%, based on current cloud computing usage statistics.

21. For Swedish enterprises, email hosting and file storage are the most popular cloud services.

(SCB)

2016 to 2018 was a period where Sweden experienced a significant increase in the number of cloud services purchased. Purchasing of file storage platforms rose to 42% from 33% just two years earlier, according to many current cloud storage statistics.

Email services rose to 41% from 32% in the same period. The purchasing of spreadsheets and word processing software has also risen from 21% to 30% over two years. While 33% of companies using cloud services share a server with another company, 21% have their own server.

How Secure and Safe Is Cloud Computing?

22. Human error is the cause of 90% of data breaches and cyber attacks, cloud computing user stats confirm.

(TechRadar)

Specifically, phishing scams are the leading cause of data breaches in an organization.

In fact, this type of attack accounts for 34% of all cyberattacks, indicated by the many stats on cloud computing out there. Ransomware accounts for 19% of attacks.

That’s why employers now see employee training as a way to reduce these issues, keeping their organizations safer.

23. 95% of cloud security failure is down to users.

(Economic Times CIO)

Cloud security is a top priority for many companies, which work hard to improve this as cloud computing growth continues to happen. Many companies now hire third parties to perform vulnerability assessments of their cloud systems. This tests how well they stand up to an attack and where security improvements could be made.

24. The average enterprise suffers 23.2 cloud-related threats per month.

(Explore Group)

Just because data is stored in the cloud doesn’t automatically make it safe. In fact, most companies have to deal with as many as 20 breaches of data per month through cloud platforms. According to cloud computing cost statistics, this costs a mind-boggling $53 billion around the globe per year.

25. The average cost of a data breach is $3.86 million.

(Security Today)

In fact, companies lose around $148 per compromised record, according to the Ponemon Institute. Naturally, the costs vary by country and region.

For example, in Brazil, the figure is $1.24 million. This was discovered thanks to the rise of cloud computing statistics. In the US, the cost is much higher at $7.9 million.

If companies implement the right security features within 30 days of setting up their cloud-based platform, they may be able to save up to $1 million on average, statistics on cloud computing confirm.

26. Everyone needs to play their part to reduce security threats.

(ITProPortal)

Although in cloud computing security breaches, the blame is often placed on users, the truth is that keeping a cloud platform secure is everyone’s responsibility. Of course, a lack of staff training is one reason this can happen. But as the latest stats about cloud computing show us, other things, such as poor access control, can be equally, if not more responsible.

Cloud Computing: Future Trends

27. Cloud computing trends in 2020 and 2021 show the growing importance of edge computing.

(CRN)

Edge computing is a type of cloud computing, mostly used for IoT, which pushes its data processing power to the edge devices. It is incredibly useful for handling time-sensitive information without burying its cloud in unnecessary data. While it will not replace traditional cloud services, with the growth of IoT and 5G, edge computing will take up a more important role.

28. IoT had the highest growth in 2020 of all cloud services, at 21%.

(Flexera)

Cloud computing growth projections also show that overall cloud spending will rise from 25% in 2020 to 30% of IT services’ budgets in 2021. With edge computing and spending growing, IoT is the trend to keep an eye on this year, too.

29. The positions of the top three cloud providers are expected to change in 2021.

(CRN)

Alibaba Cloud services are expected to outperform Google at some point of the year, although Google Cloud will prove a tough opponent. Microsoft’s Azure is also expected to grow significantly this year. All in all, while the position of AWS is not going to be challenged, the market will finally become more competitive this year.

Final Thoughts

There are lots of reasons why enterprises should invest in cloud computing platforms. As well as helping reduce costs, cloud computing adapts to continually changing business requirements. Employees can access data from the cloud on the go. And if data is lost, it can be backed up easily.

The main drawback is that cloud computing lacks enough safety and security features, which can result in systems being compromised. This is a serious concern, yet one of the most unknown facts about cloud computing.

So in what ways can enterprises protect themselves?

The majority of data breaches are down to human error, based on the most current and up to date trends in cloud computing. So, some degree of staff training could definitely be a good starting point.

If more organizations start taking cybersecurity more seriously, cloud computing statistics would improve significantly.

FAQ

What percentage of companies use cloud computing?

While previous estimates put the number at 83% in 2020, according to the latest data, the number of companies using cloud computing at least to some extent rose to 92% last year. Due to the pandemic, the pressure to organize and streamline remote work conditions increased significantly.

What are the 3 types of cloud computing?

The four types of cloud computing are Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). One of the best examples for IaaS, the most flexible type of cloud computing is AWS. The next one, PaaS, comes with a computing platform and solution stack, too. SaaS comes with a complete software solution, ready for use, like Google Apps.

Has cloud computing hit its peak?

Not at all! The growth of cloud computing is only beginning. In 2020, we saw the rising need for cloud computing, and with remote work here to stay and 5G speeds on the horizon, cloud computing in its many forms, is yet to reach its pinnacle.

Sources:

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