Indian cloud market to grow 70pc in 2012, over 2011

After being on the fringes for quite some time, cloud computing is set for a major leap. In these tough times, companies have been proactively looking at various 'disruptive technologies' that will ensure that technology is elastic enough to meet the business growth needs. Cloud models and the flexibility they bring are featuring high here. 



International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates the Indian Cloud market to be in the region of $535m in 2011, with a growth of more than 70 per cent expected for 2012 and almost 50 per cent growth forecasted for the next three years. It is a market that is fast maturing and seeing many new entrants with a broad range of investments/solutions taking key roles in the cloud ecosystem. Public cloud still lags way behind the private cloud adoption for a number of factors. 

IDC has just released a cloud research report, titled 'India Cloud Market Overview-2011-16'. The research provides insights on how the cloud market landscape is evolving and how companies are taking advantage of the new mode of IT usage. 

"We have definitely seen cloud cross the inflexion point in end 2011; use cases especially in IasS & SaaS areas provide testimony to that. With proper messaging from key vendors and due diligence of opportunities which exist in the cloud delivery models, the market will grow much faster in the coming years"" says Nirupam Chaudhuri, Research manager - Software & IT Services, IDC India, in a release. 

"Alliance with key channels and enablement will further intensify the growth for major cloud providers and gradually we will see even core applications moving to cloud much faster. Users need to feel much more comfortable with fewer inhibitions like security and ownership concerns" added Nirupam. 

Cloud providers also need to strengthen their capabilities to understand the business requirements of the organizations and come up with apt value propositions. "Organizations are more likely to work with firms that understand their business processes better and industry dynamics, and hence are better suited to overseeing the transition of the organization to a cloud environment without disruption of the business processes," saysSandeep Kumar Sharma, senior market analyst - IT services, IDC India. 

It is also imperative for the cloud providers to act as partners for the organizations in assessing their cloud readiness, and accordingly recommending a cloud adoption roadmap. This is absolutely essential for a seamless integration of the IT infrastructure into the cloud environment. "Organizations, even the larger ones, are on an increasing level feeling the pinching need to assess their cloud readiness and maturity levels. This would provide a boost to cloud consulting services in the coming 12-24 months. A direct corollary is that vendors need to have robust cloud consulting capabilities in place for making a foray into this space,"