Akamai Technologies, the cloud company, has revealed that 95 per cent of channel partners agree that cloud computing is a key priority for their customers’ 2023 strategy. However, not all businesses plan to or are able to invest heavily in the space. Willingness to spend varies greatly, with 27 per cent planning to spend below 20 per cent of their IT budget on cloud and 33 per cent planning to spend above 40 per cent of their budget.

Results are based on a survey of 386 respondents across Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), Japan, China, India, Singapore, and South Korea. The survey was conducted to glean insights into partners’ perspectives on IT budget priorities, and their customers’ 2023 cloud strategy.

“In our conversations with partners, we see that organisations are walking the fine line between investing in cloud as well as being frugal in light of the macroeconomic headwinds. We believe the solution lies in working with a developer-friendly cloud and compute ecosystem that can offer them both flexibility and cost-effectiveness, while avoiding bill shock,” explained Tatsuya Suzuki, Regional VP, APJ Carrier and Channel, Akamai.

“Even as the industry landscape continues to evolve and increase in complexity, Akamai seeks to accelerate the ambitions of our partners as they help their customers harness the potential of the cloud. We will offer expanded product roadmaps in the new year, across the areas of cloud, security, and delivery to achieve the overarching goal of making life better for billions of people, billions of times a day,” added Suzuki.

Understanding cloud priorities across the region

Upon analysis of country-specific data, Akamai’s findings revealed significant differences in the willingness to spend on cloud despite an overarching agreement on the importance of cloud technology.

Specifically, Vietnam (31 per cent), Indonesia (27 per cent), and India (23 per cent) had the highest percentages in terms of respondents who said the proportion of IT budget spent on cloud would be 60 per cent and up.

Conversely, Thailand (50 per cent), Japan (49 per cent) and Taiwan (40 per cent) had the highest percentages for respondents who indicated that the proportion of IT budget spent on cloud would be below 20 per cent.

Market Data Points

• In ANZ, 96 per cent of partners agreed that cloud is important to their customers’ 2023 strategy, with most respondents (48 per cent) estimating that 21-40 per cent of IT budgets would be spent on cloud.
• In Japan, 87 per cent of partners agreed that cloud is important to their customers’ 2023 strategy. However, most respondents (49 per cent) estimated that below 20 per cent of IT budgets would be spent on cloud.
• In China, 98 per cent of respondents agreed that cloud is important to their customers’ 2023 strategy, with most respondents (33 per cent) estimating that between 21-40 per cent of IT budgets would be spent on cloud.
• In India, 97 per cent of respondents agreed that the cloud is important to their customers’ 2023 strategy, with many respondents (48 per cent) estimating that between 21-40 per cent of IT budgets would be spent on cloud.
• In South Korea, 96 per cent of respondents agreed that cloud is important to their customers’ 2023 strategy, with many respondents (50 per cent) estimating that between 21-40 per cent of IT budgets would be spent on cloud.
• In Singapore, 95 per cent of respondents agreed that cloud is important to their customers’ 2023 strategy, with many respondents (52 per cent) estimating that between 21-40 per cent of IT budgets would be spent on cloud.

“While most organisations acknowledge the importance of cloud, many are apprehensive about investing their IT budgets in this technology, given concerns of costs and how this will affect other overarching IT priorities. These sentiments are clear from the latest insights we have gathered from our partners, and this is why Akamai is investing heavily in scaling our cloud computing capabilities,” explained Suzuki. “We believe that organisations need more options for their cloud needs, particularly those that are easy to use and developer friendly with transparent, attractive pricing, and we are able to provision for these needs with Akamai Connected Cloud.”

Categories: Articles, Business, Equipment, Research

Tags: Akamai, cloud