SMBs expected to participate in cloud spending spree

Friday, August 05, 2011

Although cloud computing provides benefits to large enterprises, small- and medium-sized businesses are spending for the technology as well.

According to a recent study by Techaisle, SMBs worldwide are expected to spend $11 billion this year on cloud services. By 2015, this amount is projected to increase at an annual compound growth rate of 12 percent.

By the end of the year, Techaisle estimates that 138 million SMB employees will use some form of the cloud. In the United States, every one in four employees will use the technology in 2011.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service are expected to grow by 26 percent during this period, while business productivity is anticipated to increase by 24 percent.

"Techaisle expects SMBs, especially in developed countries, to use cloud services along with their on-site solutions until they become more comfortable with 24/7 availability of the cloud in a reliable and secure manner and are able to serve their mobile employees," the company said in a press release.

A study conducted by CompTIA revealed that SMBs plan to increase their technology spending and cloud computing is a key factor. Of those surveyed, nearly one-third of SMBs surveyed have adopted the cloud, while 35 percent plan to utilize cloud computing in the next year.