Published on the 16/04/2019 | Written by Heather Wright
IaaS spend mirrors increased confidence…
Australia’s cloud infrastructure-as-a-service market is set to soar by nearly 75 percent to $1.2 billion, with ERP and big data among the big opportunities still to be tapped.
The figures come courtesy of Australian emerging technology analyst firm Telsyte, which shows local companies are embracing cloud with enthusiasm, with 84 percent having a strategic approach to cloud computing and one in four having mature practices that are able to move workloads from on-premises to cloud. Cloud IaaS spend by Australian organisations hit $688 million last year.
Uptake is extending to traditional ‘core’ applications with 65 percent saying their ERP systems are fully or partially cloud-based.
The strong spending is in line with organisation’s intentions to increase total IT budgets, Telsyte says. Those budgets are expected to increase an average of six percent this year, up from 4.8 percent last year.
The Telsyte Australian Cloud Market Study 2019, which was drawn from an online survey of 447 Australian IT decision makers, also shows Australian companies are sharing the love around when it comes to cloud, with multi-cloud is dominating locally. Seventy-seven percent of Australian organisations are using more than one cloud platform, and 49 percent are using more than four platforms.
The types of applications being deployed off-premise is also increasing with uptake extending to traditional ‘core’ applications too: 65 percent of companies say their ERP systems are fully or partially cloud-based.
Cloud deployments have been particularly important to address enterprise application challenges of poor integration (30 percent), lack of infrastructure (29 percent) and long deployment times (26 percent), Telsyte says.
Cloud is also being harnessed as an enabler for big data applications, with 84 percent of large organisations using some form of cloud storage or compute for their main big data analytics program as massive amounts of data out-grows on-premise capabilities, Telsyte says.
The widening range of applications being deployed off-premise comes as early concerns about cloud ‘have all but disappeared’ taking with it any cloud restrictions for many companies.
A full 41 percent of Australian companies have a cloud-first policy, according to the report, with another 36 percent saying they have no restrictions on cloud use.
Interestingly, where once the mention of cloud could raise security concerns – and indeed still does with 42 percent of those surveyed – 40 percent say security is a top reason for adopting cloud-based applications.
The report also echoes an IDC report earlier this year, in highlighting demand for managed cloud services.
Earlier this year IDC forecast a massive 20 percent five-year compound annual growth rate out to 2022 for managed cloud services in Australia, as the challenges associated with maintaining increasingly complex cloud environments increases.
Telsyte’s report notes that 37 percent of large organisations are outsourcing cloud management to third parties, with local data centres the preferred option. Sixty-two percent of IT and business leaders said they were more willing to try cloud services from multinational companies if they have local data centres, and a significant 69 percent of companies say they still have restrictions around the adoption of off-shore public cloud services.
