According to recent figures from Synergy Research Group, the growth rate of global cloud spending has shown significant signs of slowing down over the past year, despite earlier indications that the trend was continuing to increase. Although businesses are still investing heavily in cloud services, the rate of growth has been decreasing, with a smaller year-on-year growth rate of 20% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year.
Despite this slowdown, the total figure for global cloud spending stood at $63 billion in the first quarter of 2023, up more than $10 billion from the same period in 2022. The top three players in the cloud market – Amazon, Microsoft, and Google – continue to dominate, with Amazon maintaining its position as the largest cloud provider, accounting for around one-third of the market. Microsoft and Google follow closely behind, with 23% and 10% of the market share respectively.
Although opportunities for smaller companies to gain market share still exist, the dominance of the top three players remains a significant obstacle, as they collectively account for almost two-thirds of the market. In terms of private cloud alone, the situation is even more challenging, with the Big Three serving almost three-quarters of all customers.
In recent months, all three companies have faced scrutiny from EU regulators regarding their anticompetitive practices that make it difficult and costly for customers to switch providers. Despite this, the market for cloud services continues to grow, albeit at a slower pace, presenting opportunities for companies such as Oracle, Snowflake, MongoDB, and Huawei to gain ground.
The ongoing antitrust case is yet to be resolved, but the potential for smaller companies to capture a larger slice of the market remains. With the tightening economy, cloud backup tools are becoming increasingly essential for businesses looking to store their data securely.
