Head in the clouds?
If the five largest EU economies widely adopt cloud computing they could reap £645bn over 5 years, with the UK bagging €30bn annually, according to a new report.
While the report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) was commissioned by a data storage firm that provides cloud services, it claims a widespread move to using cloud services could create 2.4m jobs across Europe.
The report found that cloud computing could add €177bn a year to Europe's 5 largest economies - enough to claw back the amount of cash loaned to Ireland and Greece in recent bail-out packages.
"Cloud computing will be a significant driver in economic growth and competitiveness across the Eurozone, and highlights the important role that technology will have in the economic recovery," said the CEBR
The research firm found that the annual economic benefit of cloud computing for each country by 2015 will be:
- France - €37.4 billion
- Germany - €49.6 billion
- Italy - €35.1 billion
- Spain - €25.2 billion
- UK - €30.0 billion
The research reckons most of the value created annually will be driven by the adoption of private and hybrid cloud computing models.
Oliver Hogan, the CEBR's managing economist, believes cloud computing is not only able to boost the efficiency of individual companies' IT investment and productivity but will "also likely to be a critical macro-economic factor that will be crucial for boosting Europe's economic growth".
"As a driver of enhanced productive performance, cloud computing is likely to be especially important in playing a part to ensure that Europe's international trading position remains competitive, hence boosting export growth. Moreover, as one of the major means of maximising the ‘bang for buck' in modern IT investment, cloud computing could also be an important driver of European business investment that will, in turn, drive European economies forward," he added.
Perhaps unsurprisingly the report also points out the cost saving benefits of cloud computing- reduced capital expenditure and operating costs, quicker ROI and better deployment of resources.
The CEBR estimates that net total cost-savings (cumulative from 2010-2015) will amount to €140.7 billion across the five economies. It also suggests that the uptake of "cloud computing service offerings [will make them] progressively cheaper as economies of scale take hold and service offerings increasingly mature".
However, the report does acknowledge that the adoption of cloud technologies will need initial investment from businesses wanting to adopt them, as well as the fact that the savings are only predictions based on assumptions.
Coming out of the recession, the possibility of 466,000 jobs created annually by the cloud computing industry is tantalising and the biggest winner, according to the report's forecasts is set to be Germany, followed by the UK. Yet, relative to the size of the economy, Spain stands to do the best out of the new technology, according to the CEBR.
Piers Linney, joint CEO of cloud services firm Outsourcery, said: "The Cloud revolution has been likened to the third industrial revolution after the automation of production and the arrival of steam power in the nineteenth century. Cloud services democratise IT as powerful applications are now available to businesses of all sizes...It is becoming clear that Cloud computing is going to achieve mainstream adoption in 2011 as businesses realise the benefits and that Cloud service providers can offer security and resilience that event large corporates are unable to afford."
