Dive Brief:

• While experts do not expect new "megaclouds" such as AWS, Azure and Google to emerge, the overall cloud market is expected to hit $178 billion in 2018, according to Forrester's cloud computing predictions for 2018. Valued at $146 billion in 2017, experts project the market will grow at a 22% CAG.
• The public cloud demonstrates the fastest growth and is expected to contribute $44 billion to the overall market. By year's end, almost half of all international companies will have a public cloud incorporated into their technical infrastructure, according to the report.
• Still, only about one-third of North American IT decision makers have moved to a public cloud platform, and less than 25% of international respondents say SaaS has taken the place of their organization's existing software. 

Dive Insight:

Transitioning to the cloud is the first step in ensuring companies can streamline all aspects of business practices, and by 2021, at least half the global GDP will be digital. The cloud is an established and trusted technology, but its adoption is still resisted.

Companies are increasingly reliant on the business strategy IT augments and looking past technology's cost center reputation. This movement is shifting attention to "developer empowerment" and a heightened desire for on-premise cloud solutions, according to the report. This is projected to positively impact the private cloud market.

The continued cost reduction of the SaaS, PaaS and IaaS market is threatening the standing of on-premise software, but those who only seek out "proprietary platform services" will face higher migration costs.

To adjust to the changing SaaS market, struggling vendors will be forced to provide a portion of their services on public clouds such as AWS or Azure. Tech companies are forced to adopt the same technologies their customers use. For example, Salesforce just announced a partnership with the Google Cloud.