Cloud computing to shape the next wave of growth

Cloud as a concept has been around for two decades but has picked up steam with the growing presence of “hyper-scale” cloud providers in big data, analytics, artificial intelligence and IoT. Today, the cloud is a compelling proposition for the Indian SMEs, enterprises and government. In light of this the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) today, unveiled its report titled ‘Cloud – Next Wave of Growth in India’.  The report was done in collaboration with Google Cloud and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP highlights the present and the future state of the Indian cloud market, identifies the major technology trends, issues and concerns with respect to the industry. It also focuses on the adoption levels of cloud computing across industry verticals, the IaaS and SaaS ecosystem and, analyses the cloud policy framework & its impact on the overall cloud industry.

The report highlights that cloud spending is on a growth trajectory propelled by factors (both demand and supply) such as Increased awareness of Cloud, consumerization of IT, proliferation of start-up ecosystem, diverse landscape of supplier ecosystem, rising investments in infrastructure, talent, strategic partnerships and the impetus from key digital-led Government programs. And here, both IaaS and SaaS are estimated to contribute to this growth. Factors that can drive the IaaS uptake in India are – an improved infrastructure, economic benefits, increased innovation, vibrant start-up ecosystem and connected ecosystem. On the other hand, lower cost of workforce, abundant talent availability, mature sales eco-system, adoption of newer technologies like AI, ML to build world-class products will boost the SaaS ecosystem.

Further, to accelerate the cloud growth momentum in the right strategic direction, the report recommends the government of India to set out tangible time-bound targets for cloud and a sharper focus on the multitude of other infrastructural & operational factors (reliable power, sustainable land regulations, high-speed connectivity).

This report also shares a few recommendations to further strengthen the cloud market in India:

• Drive awareness amongst enterprises about Cloud technology
• Consideration of the impact of Data localization
• Strict compliance with data privacy laws
• Enforcement of Data protection bill
• Nurture advanced skill development
• Strengthen the internet and power infrastructure
• Incentivize MSMEs for cloud adoption
• Enable ease of operations for data centre setup

The report also draws attention to a few challenges such as data security and lack of internet infrastructure especially in Tier-II and rural markets of India. However, holistically cloud spending is catching up fast and some of the key drivers are consumerization of information technology, availability of skilled talent with deep domain knowledge, rising investments in infrastructure, government initiatives in support of cloud computing, emerging technologies such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) and impetus from key digital-led Government programs enabling cloud growth among others. Globally, the cloud spending on IT is growing at 16.5% (CAGR) and is expected to touch USD 345 billion by 2022.