55 Cloud Computing Statistics for 2024

Cloud computing has matured from a technology disruptor into what Gartner predicts will be a required component for competitiveness by 2028. This technological approach enables businesses and individuals to scale, collaborate, and innovate at unprecedented levels, reshaping industries and revolutionizing the way we work and live.

• By 2026, the cloud computing market is forecast to be worth $947.3 billion.
• Amazon Web Services remains the biggest public cloud provider, with 32% of the market.
• 96% of companies use the public cloud.
• 84% of companies use the private cloud.
• By 2025, there will be 200 zettabytes (a trillion gigabytes) of data in the world.
• The main challenge facing cloud decision-makers is managing cloud spend (82%). 
• 94% of businesses noted improvements in their security after moving to the cloud.

With global spending on cloud computing predicted to reach $679 billion this year, let’s look at some key statistics around this area that may inform your business decisions this year.

Expansion in the market for cloud computing has been explosive this decade. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the move to the cloud significantly, with many companies implementing remote work policies that simply would not have been possible without cloud technology. This mass adoption is illustrated by the following statistics:

• The cloud computing market is predicted to reach a value of $947.3 billion by 2026.
• Some 60% of business data is now stored in the cloud. 
• In 2023, 48% of businesses stored their most important data in the cloud.
• According to forecasts, the global cloud computing market will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.3% through 2026.
• By 2027, the three biggest spenders on public cloud services — banking, software and information services, and telecommunications — will be responsible for a combined $326 billion in spending.
• Public cloud spending is expected to grow from less than 17% of enterprise IT spending in 2021 to more than 45% in 2026.

Increasing cloud adoption means more data is shifting from on-site network infrastructure to more efficient, cost-effective alternatives in the cloud. It’s not just for businesses either: cloud-based applications are also growing more popular among individuals. 

• The number of people using personal clouds such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and iCloud has more than doubled from 1.1 billion in 2014 to an estimated 2.3 billion people today.
• On average, workers use 36 cloud-based services every day. 
• The average enterprise uses 1,295 cloud services.
• 92% of organizations use a multicloud approach, combining different public and private cloud service providers.
• 63% of small and medium-sized business (SMB) workloads are now hosted in the cloud, in addition to 62% of SMB data.

In a public cloud, external cloud providers supply fully managed IT resources such as servers, networking, and storage virtually over the internet. Multiple users share those resources. 

• Amazon Web Services continues to dominate the public cloud market with a market share of 32%.
• Microsoft Azure is the second-biggest cloud service in the world, with a 23% market share.
• Google Cloud trails the other two big cloud computing players with a market share of 11%.
• Alibaba Cloud secured a 4% share in 2023.

Whereas users of public cloud services share resources, organizations avail of private cloud services to ensure exclusive access to cloud infrastructure. Using the private cloud enables greater access control, security, and customization than public cloud models, so it may be obligatory for organizations handling sensitive data in order to meet regulatory requirements.  

• 96% of companies are using at least one public cloud.
• Companies run 50% of their workloads in a public cloud.
• On average, companies rely on 2.2 public clouds.
• Organizations store 48% of data in a public cloud. 
• Private cloud revenue is predicted to increase to $528.36 billion by 2029. 
• 84% of companies use at least one private cloud.
• On average, companies run 32% of workloads in private cloud environments.
• Telecommunications dominate private cloud use, with 64% using private cloud infrastructure. In fact, it’s the only industry where private cloud use is more common than public cloud usage.

Hybrid cloud combines public and private cloud with on-premises infrastructure. It allows organizations to share and transfer data and workloads between clouds and on-premise infrastructure.

• Nearly 80% of companies incorporate multiple public clouds, and 60% report using more than one private cloud. 
• Of companies with more than $500 million in revenue, 56% use a hybrid cloud approach.
• 70% of IT leaders believe it is difficult to achieve a successful digital transformation without a robust hybrid cloud strategy.

All segments of the cloud market are likely to grow in 2024. IaaS is driving software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) growth as buyers continue to add more applications to the cloud and modernize existing ones.

• End-user spending on IaaS is forecast to grow by 26.6% in 2024.
• PaaS spending growth is expected to reach 21.5% in 2024. 
• SaaS spending growth is predicted to rise from $205,221 million in 2022 to $243,991 million in 2024 — an increase of 15.9%.

Gartner has identified industry cloud platforms as another significant trend driving cloud spending. These combine underlying SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS services into a whole-product offering with composable capabilities. Generative AI (GenAI) adoption will promote this growth because GenAI models can require significant customization to work across different industry verticals.

• By 2027, 70%-plus enterprises will use industry cloud platforms to accelerate their business initiatives (from less than 15% in 2023).

The increasing digitization of modern life and the growing connectivity of modern smart devices mean that data is constantly being generated and collected. All that data must be stored somewhere:

• 50% of data will be stored in the cloud by 2025 (up from 25% in 2015).
• Total global data will reach 200 zettabytes (a trillion gigabytes) by 2025.
• In 2028, there will be 7,743.6 billion smartphones in the world.

Cloud security covers all the technologies, policies, controls, and services that are used to safeguard cloud data, applications, and infrastructure from malicious attacks. It remains a key concern for organizations. 

• 95% of companies worry about cloud security. 
• The average cost of a data breach in 2023 was $4.5 million.
• Misconfiguration leads to 68% of security issues 
• These are the most significant cloud security threats as ranked by organizations:
  • Misconfiguration (68%)
  • Unauthorized access (58%)
  • Insecure interfaces (52%)
  • Hijacking of accounts (50%)
• 94% of businesses report that their security improved after switching to the cloud.
• 91% of organizations claim using the cloud makes it easier to fulfill government compliance requirements.

Cloud gaming is a version of video game streaming that enables users to play games on their devices through an online connection. Boosted by increased investment and advances in internet infrastructure, cloud gaming is really taking off. Current mainstream cloud gaming services include console cloud gaming services PlayStation Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming. 

• The global cloud gaming market is projected to grow from $2.38 billion in 2022 to $8.17 billion in 2025.
• There are estimated to be 293 million cloud gamers in the world.

With demand for digital services growing so fast, it’s no surprise that the data centers and data transmission networks that make them possible are consuming more energy.

• Global energy consumption by cloud data centers represents 1% of the world’s energy consumption.
• Data centers and transmission networks also account for 1% of energy-related CO2 emissions.

For the first time since Flexera started publishing its State of the Cloud report, security did not top the list of challenges for cloud decision-makers in 2023:

• Managing cloud spend is reported as the main challenge facing cloud decision-makers, cited as their top concern by 82% of respondents. 
• Security is the second-biggest issue, singled out by 79%.
• The third-biggest challenge is a lack of resources or expertise, at 78%
• Compliance comes in fourth, at 73%.
• Managing software licenses is fifth, at 72%, with governance coming in a close sixth, at 71%.

As cloud computing evolves into a business necessity, it will become a key innovation facilitator for organizations that embrace it. Harnessing the ecosystem of cloud providers, ambitious companies can use the platform technology that underpins it to deliver enhanced connectivity, scale, and analysis capabilities. As organizations transform into fully digital entities better equipped to identify and respond to changing business and market conditions, efficient cloud operating models will be a minimum requirement to ensure competitiveness. 

Sources:

• 2024 State of the Cloud Report
• Gartner Says Cloud Will Become a Business Necessity by 2028
• Multi-Cloud: Reaching the Tipping Point
• The race to cloud: Reaching the inflection point to long sought value
• 2023 Cloud Security Report
• Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023
• The Atmospheric Rise of Cloud Computing
• Worldwide Spending on Public Cloud Services is Forecast to Reach $1.35 Trillion in 2027, According to New IDC Spending Guide
• What is Cloud Computing? Strategies and Importance for Business
• To the multi-cloud and beyond
• Cloud Computing Stats – Security and Recovery
• The World Will Store 200 Zettabytes Of Data By 2025
• Smartphone mobile network subscriptions worldwide 2016-2028
• Data Centres and Data Transmission Networks
• Cloud gaming market size worldwide 2021-2025
• Cloud gaming – statistics & facts