However, this growth relates not only to large companies and corporations: Even SMEs are moving to the cloud; boosted by the outsourcing of Unified Communications (UC) solutions and voice services. Swyx, a manufacturer of UC software specifically designed for small and medium-sized enterprises, has reported a massive 126 percent increase of its international user base in 2014 compared to the previous year.
The telephone system moves to the data centre
According to IDG the top three application areas enterprises are planning to migrate to the cloud in the next 12 months are Business/data analytics (19 per cent), data storage/data management (18 per cent), collaboration/ conferencing solutions, content management systems and IT infrastructure management (16 per cent).
"My interpretation of the research is that many companies are starting to relocate data-based applications to the cloud and follow with voice. Of course, this demonstrates the enormous future potential for us as a manufacturer of cloud-based UC solutions", says Swyx CEO Dr. Ralf Ebbinghaus, adding:
"Our 2014 sales show: Even SMEs are embracing the cloud more and more by taking advantage of UC solutions hosted in a data centre. Compared to last year, the growth in the number of our cloud-users has more than doubled."
Profit from the tremendous potential
Recent estimates from Gartner analysts predict that the cloud market will be worth $350bn by 2017. Meanwhile analyst IDC says that in 2015, 24 per cent of IT budgets will be allocated to cloud solutions, with the highest percentage being allocated to SaaS models.
"Because of our recent figures we are well placed for the tremendous growth potential represented by the SME market. And this applies not only to Germany but also to our international business, where we are also very successful. My prediction is that the companies that have already started to adopt other applications in the cloud and already have an affinity for hosted solutions will also look to move their telephone system as well", concludes Ebbinghaus.