Public cloud spending set to spike in Thailand

• The pandemic has stimulated chief information officers (CIOs) to move mission-critical workloads from on-site to the cloud
• Emerging technologies such as containerization, virtualization, and edge computing are becoming more mainstream and driving cloud spending

Earlier this year, experts suggested that Thai businesses are expected to spend more on the cloud this year as they prioritize investments in critical technology to help sustain normal operations during the Covid-19 outbreak. After US$652.52 million (20.3 billion baht) was spent on public cloud services in 2020, analysts anticipate that the expenditure will only grow further by over 31% to US$861.39 million (26.8 billion baht).

Global tech research firm Gartner indicated that cloud spending in Thailand could grow 28.2% to (US$1.1 billion) 34.4 billion baht in 2022. At the global level, spending is forecast to rise 23.1% year-on-year to US$332.3 billion in 2021, up from US$270 billion in 2020 and it is expected to hit US$397.4 billion next year.

Gartner’s research VP Sid Nag said, “the pandemic has stimulated chief information officers (CIOs) to move mission-critical workloads from on-site to the cloud. Emerging technologies such as containerization, virtualization, and edge computing are becoming more mainstream and driving cloud spending. Simply put, the pandemic served as a multiplier for CIOs’ interest in the cloud,” he said.

Offerings for public cloud services

Nag added that despite economic challenges, offerings that support public cloud services are showing strong growth. He also emphasized that software-as-a-service (SaaS) remains the biggest segment in the cloud service globally and is forecast to reach US$122.6 billion in 2021, up from US$102.7 billion last year, as demand for composable applications requires a different type of SaaS experience.

Meanwhile, infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) are expected to see the highest growth this year since CIOs need to scale infrastructure that supports moving complex workloads to the cloud and people working remotely. IaaS is projected to grow 38.5% year-on-year to $82 billion and DaaS is expected to surge 67.7% to $2 billion this year.

“It’s important to note that usage and adoption of cloud that served enterprises well during the ongoing crisis will not look the same in the coming years. It will further evolve from serving pedestrian use cases such as infrastructure and application migration to those that combine cloud with technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, 5G, and more,” Nag said.

He reckons cloud in the future will also draw on various new technologies needed by CIOs for the development of business use cases. In a separate report by PwC Thailand, consulting lead partner and financial services leader Vilaiporn Taweelappontong said businesses will likely continue to need greater infrastructure capacity to support remote working as the pandemic continues in 2021. She added that financial services and retail industries are expected to lead the way on cloud investments as businesses look to meet customer needs.

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