Putting a value on the cloud

€763bn could be generated by 2015, and millions of new jobs created across Europe through the adoption of cloud computing – with the distribution, retail and hotels sectors set to benefit the most.
These are the findings from the Cloud Dividend report from EMC (NYSE: EMC) and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), which analyses how key industries across Europe will benefit from cloud computing over the next five years.
It claims €763bn could be generated by 2015, and millions of new jobs created, through the expected adoption of cloud computing across a range of industries across Europe. The study focuses on the three most common cloud computing models – public, private cloud and hybrid cloud.
Distribution, retail and hotels accounted for the largest share of economic benefits in France, Italy, Spain and the UK. They will see more than €233bn generated from a combination of “accelerated business creation, business development and cost savings.” The sector constitutes 31 percent of the total economic benefit expected to be created across the region, with 77 percent of the value being derived from private and hybrid cloud solutions.
Says Cebr’s managing economist, Oliver Hogan: “Our research into the impact of cloud computing has uncovered compelling economic benefits attached to the expected and predicted roll-out across various industry sectors. ‘Distribution, retail and hotels’ is projected to generate the largest returns from cloud deployments despite decreased spending power and commodity price pressures.
“‘Banking, financial & business services’ is also one of the stronger sectors, in terms of the resulting benefits, but lower relative IT CapEx-to-labour ratios in this sector mean its share of the total benefits in EMEA isn’t proportional to the sector’s powerful contribution to overall GDP. One of the key drivers for economic recovery will be job creation and, interestingly, the public sector should gain most here with up to 800,000 positions expected to result from the adoption of cloud services.”
EMC Consulting’s vice president EMEA, Sandra Hamilton, adds, “A hybrid cloud model – a dynamic combination of internal and external resources where a private cloud serves as the gateway and control mechanism for public cloud services – provides organisations with the ultimate flexibility.”