Cloud computing and security critical for business strategy in 2023

According to Akamai Technologies, Inc., a company that provides cloud-based solutions for online security and performance, 96% of its channel partners in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) see cloud computing as a crucial component of their customers’ 2023 business strategy. 48% of respondents estimated that 21-40% of their customers’ IT budgets would be allocated to cloud computing.

This aligns with the results of a survey conducted across the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region, which revealed that 95% of partners also believe that cloud computing is vital to their business strategy for 2023. The survey was conducted across six countries in the APJ region, including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, India, Singapore, and South Korea, to gain insights into partners’ perspectives on IT budget priorities and their customers’ cloud strategy for 2023. Some key findings are:

In China, 98% of respondents believed that cloud computing is crucial to their customers’ 2023 strategy, with 33% estimating that 21-40% of IT budgets would be spent on cloud computing.
In India, 97% of respondents agreed that cloud computing is essential to their customers’ 2023 strategy, with almost half (48%) estimating that 21-40% of IT budgets would be allocated to cloud computing.
In South Korea, 96% of respondents thought that cloud computing is important to their customers’ 2023 strategy, with half of the respondents (50%) estimating that 21-40% of IT budgets would be allocated to cloud computing.
In Singapore, 95% of respondents believed that cloud computing is important to their customers’ 2023 strategy, with more than half (52%) of the respondents estimating that 21-40% of IT budgets would be allocated to cloud computing.

There are significant variations in the willingness of businesses to allocate budgets to cloud computing, despite an overall agreement on the technology’s importance. While some APJ businesses plan to allocate a significant portion of their IT budgets to cloud computing, others are not able or willing to do so. Specifically, 27% of businesses plan to spend less than 20% of their IT budgets on cloud computing, while 33% plan to allocate more than 40% of their budget to technology.

Thailand (50%), Japan (49%), and Taiwan (40%) had the highest percentages of respondents who expected to allocate less than 20% of their IT budget to cloud computing.

According to Akamai, most businesses recognize the importance of cloud technology, but many are hesitant to invest their IT budgets in it due to concerns about costs and how it may impact other IT priorities.

Akamai recently announced Akamai Connected Cloud, which is a hugely distributed edge and cloud platform for computing, security, and content delivery. As part of the announcement, Akamai will launch four new enterprise-scale core cloud computing sites across the APJ region in Chennai, Osaka, Jakarta, and Auckland by the end of 2023. Moreover, it has also identified over 50 cities globally where it will start rolling out distributed sites this year, bringing basic cloud computing capabilities into difficult-to-reach locations.

Security is also a main concern for ANZ partners

ANZ partners consider security as a top priority for 2023 alongside cloud computing, due to the increased number of data breaches in recent months. According to the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s (ACSC) third Annual Cyber Threat Report, the agency received over 76,000 cybercrime reports last year, a 13% increase from the previous year. As a result, ANZ partners are focusing on providing a range of products and services that offer different layers of security and in-depth defense to tackle these challenges.

Akamai is assisting its customers and partners by providing security solutions, such as Edge DNS, a globally accessible and adaptable domain name system (DNS) service that provides security, protection against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, and rapid DNS response times. Consequently, Akamai can monitor billions of DNS requests daily, giving them a clear understanding of the most recent security threats.