Cloud technology is a revolutionary way for us to store and manage data. It’s already a commonplace feature in most businesses’ infrastructure.

But what is the cloud, and why should you care?

Here, you’ll see insightful cloud computing statistics that show you the nitty-gritty of this technology and give a broader perspective of how great it is.

Astonishing Cloud Computing Statistics — Editor’s Choice

  • 90% of companies use some type of cloud service.
  • 80% of enterprises use Amazon Web Services as their primary cloud platform.
  • 77% of enterprises have at least one application or a portion of it in the cloud.
  • Enterprises use 1,427 different cloud services on average.
  • 60% of organizations use cloud technology to store confidential data.

Now that we know some necessary cloud computing facts and figures, let’s down to the facts.

First things first:

What Is the Cloud?

“The cloud” refers to servers that host and store data in a physical location, enhancing stability and security. What’s more, it gives companies greater flexibility and can even reduce certain costs.

Given the lack of physical space, digital is the next best thing. And in a world where data is paramount, having a place to put it is key.

People fondly remember the good old days of storing data on hard drives and flash devices.

The cloud makes everything so much easier! You just pop the info in, and up it goes. You can access it and bring it back down whenever you want to.

Now, let’s get some fundamental cloud computing facts out of the way.

What Are the Main Cloud Types?

There are three different types of clouds:

  • Public: Used to deliver services across the internet.
  • Private: Made for internal use within an organization.
  • Hybrid: A combination of the two.

What Are the Main Types of Cloud Services?

  • Software as a Service (SaaS): Apps accessible to the client via a web browser or a smaller application (e.g., Gmail, Google Drive, Google Play).
  • Platform as a Service (PaaS): An area where apps are developed and tested.
  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): A place for computing resources in a virtual environment.

Here are some more fun facts about cloud computing to keep you going!

What Are the Best Cloud Computing Providers?

Although there are many providers, the three most significant are:

  • Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Google Cloud

Did you know that cloud computing predictions pointed to remarkable revenue of $150 billion in 2020?

There’s a lot more to find out about the cloud. We got you covered with all the essential stats currently available, so keep reading.

Fascinating Facts About the Cloud

1. Spending on cloud infrastructure services exceeded $30 billion during Q2 of 2020.

According to the latest stats and facts about cloud computing, total spending on cloud services pushed through $30 billion in Q2. This is a $7.5 billion increase since Q2 of the previous year.

This growth is a torch passed by years of steady growth. Between 2016 and 2017, there was a growth of $3.3 billion. Since then, the increases have been more drastic, rising by an extra billion in each YoY increment.

2. 74% of tech chief financial officers think cloud computing had the biggest impact on their business in 2017.

Forbes reported that more than 70% of CFOs exclaimed that cloud computing technology had an outstanding influence on their business in 2017. Integration networks allowed cloud platforms to coordinate more globally. Predictions based on cloud computing statistics for 2017 implied an even bigger usage and increased profits.

3. Demand for cloud services grew by 18% in 2017.

More and more companies have been looking into cloud services and have made it a priority to implement it into their business dealings. This resulted in $246.8 billion in revenue worldwide in 2017 — a significant increase from $209.2 billion in 2016. This rapid development of cloud computing market trends took everyone by surprise.

4. 84% of IT professionals were worried about cloud security during the work-from-home shift in 2020.

The massive migration to work from home that took place during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic was, in many cases, sudden and not graceful.

Many IT professionals were concerned about the vulnerabilities in the cybersecurity of companies making use of the cloud. In fact, cloud adoption statistics say that 84% of them were worried about poor cloud cybersecurity.

One particular fear was that their business might have already been hacked without them knowing about it.

5. The hosting, storage, and computing cloud service market was estimated to grow to $163 billion by 2021.

Statista’s facts about cloud computing revealed some promising future trends. The IT Market Model is divided into two parts — hosting, storage and computing, and cloud security. Their predictions on the former have estimated that it will amount to about $172.1 billion by 2021.

But what is more important for the future cloud computing industry is that hosting, storage, and computing cloud service revenue will amount to $163 billion by 2021.

6. 80% of enterprises used Amazon Web Services as their primary cloud platform in 2018.

The Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform has emerged as one of the most popular cloud platforms. In 2018, exactly 80% of businesses were either already running their services using AWS or were thinking about doing so.

A close runner-up at 67% was the Microsoft Azure platform, as 45% of entrepreneurs had already been using it, while 22% had been experimenting with it.

Finally, 18% preferred using Google’s Cloud Platform, with 23% thinking of using the platform in the future.

7. There were 3.6 billion cloud users in 2018.

According to cloud computing statistics from 2018, there were 3.6 billion cloud consumers, with the number increasing at a head-spinning rate. Note that consumer cloud refers to cloud services solutions performed every day on iCloud, Dropbox, and cloud password solutions.

Cloud Computing Adoption Stats

8. 73% of IT in insurance is based on hybrid clouds.

According to statistics on cloud computing adoption, the use of hybrid cloud infrastructures is by far the most popular one in all IT sectors. Even though both private and public ones are increasing their adoption rate, the hybrid one will not be surpassed any time soon.

Its most prominent use is in insurance (73%), while public cloud services are the most popular in hotel and leisure use (28%), and private ones dominate in engineering (30%).

  • Insurance: 73% hybrid – 18% private – 9% public
  • Retail & Logistics: 66% hybrid – 21% private – 13% public
  • Manufacturing: 65% hybrid – 19% private – 16% public
  • Utilities: 62% hybrid – 21% public – 18% private
  • Software & Technology: 59% hybrid – 21% public – 20% private

According to a 451 Research survey, more and more businesses were turning towards multi-cloud solutions a few years ago. In a survey of 1,000 people, 80% of the companies said they used a multi-cloud strategy.

Of course, most of them did not stop at two clouds. On average, companies use 4.8 clouds to run applications and tests. Additionally, multi-cloud environments include the use of hybrid clouds.

10. The enterprise SaaS market currently generates $20 billion by quarter for software vendors.

Software as a service (SaaS) is the largest segment of cloud computing. The latest statistics of cloud computing say it is responsible for more than half of the total cloud computing revenue worldwide.

SaaS is also the fastest-growing service among the three available ones. Its revenue has been expanding by 32% a year, and 31% of SaaS businesses were entirely in the cloud in 2019!

11. 96% of companies started investing in public and private clouds in 2018.

Once cloud services became mainstream, more than 90% of companies began using some kind of cloud computing service. Most of these companies that used cloud computing employed either hybrid options or multi-clouds. However, some experienced users are looking into moving away from hybrid cloud options. The solution would be investing in public and private cloud computing services.

One of the Rightscale report highlights was that many companies prioritized public cloud services — 38% to be exact. On the other hand, prioritizing hybrid cloud services dropped to 45% in 2018.

On average, companies use 2.7 public and 3 public clouds per company.

12. The CAGR for cloud services in the 2020–2025 period is projected to be 24.74%.

The growth of cloud computing stats puts the Asia-Pacific region at the top of the rankings. Currently, the highest rate is in China and India.

Cloud services have grown spectacularly in India, with the figure reaching $1.8 billion in 2017. What’s more, India is the fastest-growing cloud service market, second only to China. It had a GDP of 7.2% in Q3 2018, as the cloud storage statistics from 2018 reveal.

Even though certain problems come with the lack of consistent high-speed internet in India, the cloud is in high demand. Other issues include power supply, optical fiber connection, and bandwidth.

However, India is poised to develop in this field, judging by the cloud computing growth statistics. Due to an increased need for business innovation in a very competitive market, cloud services in the subcontinent will continue to expand in the foreseeable future.

Facts on Cloud Computing Usage

13. 77% of enterprises had at least one application or a portion of it in the cloud in 2018.

Cloud tech is awesome for storing huge amounts of app data. That explains why 12.7 million Dropbox customers have Android and iOS operating systems. But those are not only individual consumers; businesses are making use of the cloud as well.

Cloud computing usage statistics reveal that 77% of organizations had at least one app in the cloud in 2018. Furthermore, statistics on the matter revealed that 15% of enterprises were planning to follow suit in the next 12 months.

14. Enterprises used 1,427 distinct cloud services on average in Q3 2016.

The number of specific cloud services used by enterprises jumped by 23% in 2016. If we compare it with the number from 2013, we can see that it almost tripled.

Cloud computing company stats from 2017 established that an average employee working at an enterprise used 36 cloud services at work, including nine collaboration, five content-sharing, and six file-sharing services. On the other hand, the average company used 210 collaboration cloud services and 76 file-sharing services.

15. AWS has over 1,000,000 active users.

Amazon Web Services is one of the largest cloud providers on the market right now. Most current cloud computing usage statistics reveal that companies of all stripes make use of it.

Namely, there are more than 1,000,000 active AWS users. Out of these, around 10% are enterprise-level, while the rest are small and medium-sized businesses.

16. 42% and 41% of on-the-cloud Swedish enterprises used cloud services for file storage and email hosting in 2018.

The number of purchased cloud services by enterprises in Sweden significantly increased between 2016 and 2018. File storage was the most purchased type of cloud service, jumping from 33% to 42% in two years, followed by email services that increased from 32% to 41%.

However, stats on cloud computing showed that the use of office software, spreadsheets, and word processing had grown the most, from 21% to 30% in two years. Accounting and financial management software also saw a considerable increase.

About 33% of companies that bought cloud services shared their servers with other enterprises, while 21% obtained a dedicated server.

17. Amazon’s cloud computing stats reveal that the company has deployed more cloud infrastructure than 14 of its competitors combined.

Amazon Web Service has five times more infrastructure than its next 14 competitors combined. This gives you a good idea of how dominant AWS actually is.

Cloud computing stats say that AWS had over a million active users spread across 190 countries in 2019. This supports the fact that AWS covered 41.5% of the entire public cloud market.

In 2018 alone, AWS earned $26 billion in revenue for parent company Amazon.

Cloud Spend Statistics

18. Worldwide public cloud service market is predicted to be $331.2 billion by 2022.

According to Gartner’s report, the public services’ share is supposed to attain a $331.2 billion revenue by 2022, up from $182.4 billion in 2018.

Cloud computing forecasts also indicate a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.6% for the same period. According to some estimates, there was a massive 17.5% revenue increase for 2018–2019, so it seems like a viable prediction.

19. The average cloud budget increased to $73.8 million in 2020.

A study of cloud computing trends conducted by IDG came up with some pretty interesting findings about the company’s average cloud budget. Remarkably, cloud computing figures grew from $1.62 million in 2016 to $2.2 million in 2018.

However, they also stated that results might vary based on the size of the company.

In fact, large enterprises invest as much as $3.5 million on average, while SMBs invest $889.000.

20. Google Cloud earned $2.77 billion in Q1 2020.

Since its launch in 2008, Google Cloud has been making steady gains in popularity. With worldwide cloud computing market share and investment growing, Google’s cloud platform became a profitable product.

In the first quarter of 2020, Google Cloud raked in $2.77 billion. That’s an improvement of 52%, compared to the previous year that saw a $1.825 billion revenue.

21. UK government spending on the transition to cloud has more than doubled since 2014.

The UK government is now spending more than $1.33 billion per year as it transitions to the cloud. Migrating to the cloud is a long process, and cloud computing growth is often costly.

In fact, Westminster has already invested $1.73 billion as of April 2019. Between 2017 and 2018, the government spent a total of $1.46 billion on hosting, support, and software.

The funny thing is that the costs for 2014 amounted to only $559 million, but they’ll keep going up during the transition.

Cloud Computing Safety & Security Facts

22. By 2025, 99% of cloud security failures will be due to customers’ mistakes.

According to Gartner’s cloud computing stats, most breaches are the user’s fault and not the provider’s. A quick look at cybercrime statistics shows you how many millions of dollars businesses lose from a cyberattack, so these mistakes are pretty costly.

Cloud safety is the number one concern of many CIOs, and most of them are trying to improve it. However, many should check if they are using the cloud securely.

Organizations have to develop comprehensive cloud strategies that should lessen risks. Some even suggest that the best way forward is to hire an unbiased third party to perform a system’s vulnerability assessment.

23. Around 90% of data breaches and cyberattacks are caused by human error.

Some of the more interesting facts about computing suggest the biggest threat to an organization’s security are its employees.

Phishing scams account for 34% of data breaches, while clicking a link with ransomware happens 19% of the time.

In addition to strengthening cybersecurity, companies need to train their employees. People management protocols, including employee education, are the best way to reduce the risk of an unwanted breach.

Some pieces of data show that not everything stored in the cloud is safe. In fact, the average enterprise using the cloud for business faces at least 20 breach attempts each month. Moreover, almost every organization is hit once in 30 days.

The danger of cloud breaches has increased by 18.4% since 2016. For example, Lloyds Insurance says global cloud cyber attacks amount to $53 billion per year.

25. The cost of a data breach amounts to $3.86 million on average worldwide.

The latest stats about cloud computing safety by Ponemon Institute say that the cost of a data breach amounts to $3.86 million. That is $148 per compromised record.

The statistics vary by region and country, so the average in the US is up to $7.9 million. In Brazil, it is about $1.24 million. Properly integrating the cloud into your business’ infrastructure and solid security policies can help you avoid these grim numbers coming your way.

Statistics on cloud computing warn that mistakes are likely to happen, which makes a breach down the road very possible. However, if you act quickly and address the issue in the first 30 days, you can save up to $1 million on average.

26. 60% of organizations use cloud technology to store confidential data.

When it comes to safety-related cloud technology facts, an encouraging one for the technology is that 60% of companies use the cloud to store sensitive data.

This information comes from a survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute, which also reveals that organizations tend to do so no matter if the data is encrypted. This tells us that most business organizations trust cloud services.

The Benefits and Downsides of the Cloud Computing Industry

If you’ve read all the cloud computing market stats above, you should have a pretty good idea of how beneficial this technology is. However, nothing in life comes without its downsides.Technology growth statistics show that tech pretty much dictates the way people live their lives. So, if you are one of those progressive people in favor of technology advancement, you’ll most certainly embrace current trends in cloud computing. Here’s the gist of it:

  • Accessibility: Access your date from anywhere in the world at any time.
  •  Flexibility: Purchase cloud services at any time. This way, businesses more flexibility to decide when to implement them.
  • Cost-effectiveness: Cut in half expenses formerly used for additional software by moving your data to the cloud.
  • Maintenance: Cloud service providers do the maintenance for you.
  • Recovery: Much easier to recover data if problems occur.

But what about the disadvantages?

There are always two sides to every coin, and cloud services come with certain drawbacks. While the rise of cloud computing statistics has been astonishing, some problems may occur.

  • Inconsistency: Performance on shared infrastructure can be inconsistent due to unpredicted natural disasters or internal bugs.
  • Privacy & security: Even though safety is at a high level with every provider, there are still concerns about data breaches.
  • Data transfer costs: Monthly outbound data transfer is charged per GB.
  • Downtime: If the internet is down, you don’t have access to any of your cloud services.

The Bottom Line

So there you go, we’ve covered all the known and unknown facts about cloud computing. We’ve learned about the different types of clouds and the leading providers on the market. You now know more about how and why individuals and businesses adopt and use clouds.

We’ve also talked about some major issues and risks that come with regular use of the cloud.

As all the data indicates, cloud computing is essential for the modern world.

It’s up to you to decide whether to use it. However, the cloud computing statistics mentioned above show that we’ll all end up in the cloud eventually.