Cloud computing is set for a massive spending boost in 2022

Representational image depicting the ease of use of cloud computing
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Businesses’ growing desire for more and more public cloud services is showing no signs of slowing down, according to the latest figures from Gartner. 

The analyst house predicted global public cloud spending will rise 20.4% in 2022 to a total of $494.7 billion, up from $410.9 billion in 2021.

In 2023, Gartner predicts end-user spending on public cloud computing will reach nearly $600 billion.

Higher demand

“Cloud is the powerhouse that drives today’s digital organizations,” said Sid Nag, research vice president at Gartner. “CIOs are beyond the era of irrational exuberance of procuring cloud services and are being thoughtful in their choice of public cloud providers to specific, desired business and technology outcomes in their digital transformation journey.”

As many employees continue to work from home, Gartner claims hybrid working is encouraging organizations to move away from traditional computing solutions such as desktops and physical in-office tools, and towards desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) solutions.

Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) is set to be the largest driver of end-user public cloud spending growth according to Gartner, growing 30.6% in 2022.

The analyst house expects spending on DaaS to grow 26.6% and spending on platform-as-a-service (PaaS) to grow 26.1% in 2022.

In addition, demand by end-users for PaaS is predicted to grow to $109.6 billion.

SaaS remains on top

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is set to remain the largest segment of the public cloud services market, and Gartner forecasts spending on SaaS by end users will reach $176.6 billion in 2022.

The analyst house predicts businesses will continue to break up larger, monolithic applications into composable parts for DevOps processes.

Gartner also predicts that emerging technologies in cloud computing such as hyperscale edge computing and secure access service edge (SASE) will create additional revenue streams for public cloud providers.

“Cloud native capabilities such as containerisation, database platform-as-a-service (dbPaaS) and AI/machine learning contain richer features than commoditised compute such as IaaS or network-as-a-service,” said Gartner’s Nag. “As a result, they are generally more expensive which is fuelling spending growth.” 

The news comes after Gartner predicted earlier this month that global IT spending is set to reach a total of $4.4tn this year despite rising inflation, geopolitical disruption and ongoing talent shortages.

Will McCurdy has been writing about technology for over five years. He has a wide range of specialities including cybersecurity, fintech, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, cloud computing, payments, artificial intelligence, retail technology, and venture capital investment. He has previously written for AltFi, FStech, Retail Systems, and National Technology News and is an experienced podcast and webinar host, as well as an avid long-form feature writer.