Businesses are spending more on cloud infrastructure in order to ramp up digital transformation efforts and stay flexible in the face of supply- chain issues, says research firm Canalys. Credit: iStock Global spending on cloud infrastructure services increased by 34% to a total of nearly $56 billion in the first quarter of 2022, driven by the need for resiliency and flexibility as businesses face supply chain problems and geopolitical upheaval, according to a report released Friday by analyst firm Canalys. Migrating workloads to the cloud, investing in data storage, and cloud-native application development have all been particular drivers of SMB (small and medium business) investment in the cloud, as they step up digital transformation projects, the report said. But large enterprises have also been ramping up their spending on cloud services — given infrastructure hardware shortages, and the potential for future price increases among cloud providers, big businesses have opted for hefty, long-term contracts in order to lock in pricing discounts with AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. Canalys research analyst Blake Murray said that digital resiliency is a key consideration for businesses of all sizes that are investing in the cloud infrastructure market — and that specialist cloud expertise is becoming a more and more valuable commodity. Digital resiliency is key to facing market challenges “Cloud has continued to be a hot market and transformation strategies are emphasizing digital resiliency to face the market challenges of today and tomorrow,” he said in a statement. “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.” Consequently, cloud-focused certification programs have been on the rise, and major systems integrators like Accenture, Deloitte and Tech Mahindra have all been snapping up employees with significant cloud engineering experience. Worldwide cloud infrastructure spending has been relatively steady over the past four years, according to Canalys — the low point over that period was the second quarter of 2020, the initial pandemic quarter, when growth was just over 30% in year-on-year terms, but the past several quarters have all seen figures close to 35%. On the vendor side, the big three providers accounted for 62% of all cloud spending in the first quarter of 2022. The clear leader was AWS, which accounted for 33% of total cloud spending on its own, followed by Azure at 21% and Google Cloud at 8%. Despite its smaller overall market share, however, Google Cloud was the fastest grower in the big three, increasing its share by 54% over the past quarter, maintaining its focus on analytics, cybersecurity and AI among other areas and building out regional datacenters across the world. Related content feature New US CIO appointments, May 2024 Congratulations to these 'movers and shakers' recently hired or promoted into a new chief information officer, senior IT, or board role. By Martha Heller May 08, 2024 9 mins CIO Careers IT Leadership feature The extent Automic’s group CIO goes to reconcile data Cathy O'Sullivan, CIO editor-in-chief for APAC, recently sat with Marcelo Dantas, group CIO at Automic Group, to discuss completing one of the largest-ever registry services transitions in Australia, keeping pace with technology, and why cyberse By CIO staff May 08, 2024 9 mins CIO Cloud Native Data Quality feature Expion Health revamps its RFP process with AI The healthcare cost management firm built a customized AI tool to streamline an error-prone process for gaining new customers. Now, it’s considering selling the project for external use. By Grant Gross May 08, 2024 6 mins CIO 100 Healthcare Industry Digital Transformation feature Ways IT leaders can meet the EU AI Act head on The biggest mistake companies of all sizes could make is to put conformity before innovation, according to EU AI Act co-rapporteur Dragoș Tudorache. By Andrada Fiscutean May 08, 2024 6 mins CIO Military Regulation PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe