Silver linings: Cloud spending expected to nearly double by 2018

Spending on cloud services is expected to nearly double in Australia over the next three years and will significantly change the way Australian SMEs do business, according to a study by market research firm IDC.

The Australia Ecosystem Study 2014 forecasts cloud spending will grow from $909.2 million in 2014 to more than $1.7 billion in 2018.

The research shows cloud services will make up the largest part of the IT services sector in the next three years, with spending expected to be about eight times the growth rate of the overall IT services market.

Software as a service (SaaS) is expected to continue to capture the largest portion of cash splashed in the sector. SaaS last year accounted for 60% of public IT cloud services expenditure and the report predicts it will continue to dominate, driven by significant customer demand at the application level.

The research also found cloud products and services will transform Australian business processes, as well as relationships with customers, partners, and employees.

“With competitive differentiation a primary goal of the digital business it’s  inevitable that Australian organisations embrace this change and embark upon a journey that will ultimately challenge traditional thinking, enhance productivity and enable new operating models, leveraging a 3rd Platform foundation,” said IDC.

The top five IT categories tipped to see significant increased spending in 2015 are business continuity and disaster recovery solutions, business analytics, infrastructure audit, IT service management and security.