Technology for MSMEs: Cloud computing company DigitalOcean for developers, startups, and small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) on Thursday said that 65 per cent SMBs have reported an increased dependency on cloud solutions due to Covid. The finding was based on the company’s research report involving 2,400 interviews in 48 countries, including 300 from India. The report added that 92 per cent respondents who switched to cloud solutions reported a jump in cloud usage during the peak of the pandemic that continued to increase in 2021.
“The cloud represents a massive opportunity for developers and SMBs to test their ideas and build their businesses and it’s more important than ever that they have access to easy-to-use cloud solutions that meet their unique needs,” said Yancey Spruill, CEO, DigitalOcean in a statement.
Among key findings of the report noted that apart from the challenge of having limited technical staff to manage cloud solutions, cost, technical training and education, and time required to manage services were the barriers to cloud adoption. Lack of cloud knowledge among SMBs was also reported in the report.
For example, 48 per cent of respondents from traditional SMBs were not familiar with the term “cloud-native,” compared to the 5 per cent of respondents from enterprises who are not familiar with the term. Also, 56 per cent of respondents from traditional SMBs were not familiar with the term “digital native,” compared to 18 per cent of respondents from enterprises who are not familiar.
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In terms of the Covid impact, the pandemic, as per the report, has led to an increased reliance on the cloud. Of the respondents who reported increased cloud usage in 2020 due to Covid-driven digital acceleration, 82 per cent of traditional SMBs, 82 per cent of tech SMBs, and 92 per cent of enterprises said their cloud usage has continued to increase this year. 69 per cent percent of respondents believed the cloud has helped their business recover from the ongoing pandemic.
The study was conducted by Aspen Finn from September-October 2021 and respondents were split into three segments: enterprise companies with 500 or more employees, tech-focused SMBs with under 500 employees who describe themselves as tech or hybrid, traditional SMBs with under 500 employees who describe themselves as non-tech.