Until recently, Canadian companies’ caution when it comes to embracing cloud was something of a tradition – something you could rely on year-in year-out.
Although, according to a recent Forrester report, the public cloud market is set to grow to more than $1 trillion (USD) worldwide by 2026 – meaning the trend globally is strongly toward cloud – Canada was in recent years still cautiously dipping its toes in the water.
A study released by IDC in 2016 found that a mere two per cent of Canadian businesses considered themselves “digital disruptors,” while 60 per cent were more accurately described as “digital resisters” or “digital explorers.”
Research by ITWC seemed to bear this out. Every year between 2018 and 2021, Canadian CEOs, CIOs, IT directors, and other leaders were asked how much of their IT infrastructure and applications they intended to leverage over the proceeding 12-24 months. The percentage has crept up since 2018, from 30 per cent in 2018 to 31 per cent in 2019 to 32 per cent in 2020 to 38 per cent in 2021.
“This could hardly be seen as a stampede,” said ITWC CIO Jim Love. “It definitely suggested caution.”
Download: AWS Migration Report
A major shift
ITWC research, however, was to unearth something quite remarkable. In its 2022 survey, it once again asked business leaders across Canada for their projections for the next 12 to 24 months as to their IT infrastructure model. When the dust had settled, the percentage for cloud had jumped to 59 per cent, from 38 per cent the previous year.
The ground had clearly shifted, to the point where almost six out of 10 Canadian business leaders now saw cloud as a core delivery mechanism.
“You’d think with all that occurred in 2020, with organizations having to rapidly establish a hybrid office for their employees, cloud reluctance would have disappeared by 2021 – in part because companies were forced to embrace it,” said Love. “Perhaps this is just another demonstration of that old Canadian caution. At any rate here we stand, at what could well be critical mass among Canadian companies when it comes to cloud adoption.”
Why cloud
2023 is shaping up to be the year when cloud breaks through as the go-to infrastructure delivery vehicle of Canadian businesses. More and more companies are now following the lead of other organizations in Canada who have successfully embraced cloud – not to mention that of “early cloud adopter” companies in the US and around the world.
Download: AWS Migration Report
The business leaders surveyed by ITWC identified many ways cloud benefits companies, even as the world moves through uncertain times. Among those benefits:
- Reduced technology infrastructure costs – less need for onsite hardware, etc.
- Higher productivity – the ability to accomplish more with less
- More operational resilience – reduced system downtime, increased agility
- Less frequent security incidents – lower risk exposure overall
“Each benefit, on its own, is impressive enough,” said Love, “but when you put them together, the picture becomes even more dramatic. Many companies that embrace cloud in a major way, and do it right, are getting to market faster. And their people, free of some of their day-to-day burdens, can devote more time and energy to innovation.”
AWS’ Migration Report looks at the growth in cloud adoption among Canadian companies in more depth. The report also looks at both the lessons learned and accelerators of cloud adoption, and looks at examples of companies that have made the journey to cloud, and the benefits they have realized. Download the report.
