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 brandpost Sponsored by Dell Technologies and Intel® The impact of AI on edge computing AI at the edge offers real-time responsiveness, privacy compliance, and cost efficiency. Where are you on your edge journey? By Pratyakcha Upadhyay Consultant, Product Management, Dell Technologies Apr 30, 2024 6 mins Artificial Intelligence brandpost Sponsored by Rockwell Automation 6 steps the manufacturer of Arm & Hammer and OxiClean took to harden OT cybersecurity Church & Dwight turned to Rockwell Automation to help the maker of well-known personal and household care products reduce the risk of manufacturing interruptions. By Maro Eremyan Apr 30, 2024 4 mins Security news AI is set to transform hiring requirements: Report About 50% of technology leaders in an EY survey said they anticipate a combination of layoffs and hiring in the next six months as a direct result of AI adoption. By Gyana Swain Apr 30, 2024 4 mins Hiring Artificial Intelligence news Tableau further democratizes analytics with AI-fueled features New AI and gen AI additions to Tableau Pulse and Einstein Copilot for Tableau seek to help business users and ‘novice’ data analysts gain expert insights with ease. By Thor Olavsrud Apr 30, 2024 5 mins Generative AI Business Intelligence Data Visualization 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