20 Statistics on Cloud Computing in Canada & Abroad

What is cloud computing? 

Cloud computing is somewhat like outsourcing a whole department of a company. For example, you can outsource storage aspects or computational statistics so that you can focus your resources elsewhere. 

Today, we’ll dig deep into cloud computing in Canada,  examining things like types of cloud computing, deployment models, and the state of the cloud computing market in Canada. 

The thing is:

Cloud technology has improved quite a lot in recent years. As a result, developed countries like Canada have particular ways to address issues, challenges, and opportunities that arise due to cloud technology. 

Let’s dive right in.

Fascinating Cloud Computing Statistics (Editor’s Choice)

• The global cloud computing market size was US$340 billion in 2020. 
• By 2022, the global cloud market is expected to rise to almost US$400 billion. 
• SaaS accounts for a majority of the total cloud market size and is expected to reach the US$145 billion mark by 2022. 
• Amazon is by far the biggest player on the public cloud market, with a 32% share. 
• Private cloud services accounted for US$60 billion in 2020.
• Around 92% of all Canadian businesses have adopted cloud computing services in some form. 
• Canada’s cloud computing spending will amount to US$10.3 billion in 2023. 

Cloud Service Models & General Cloud Facts

1. In 2020, all cloud computing and storage companies generated more than $US340 billion.

(Source: Statista)

This figure is expected to grow further to $400 billion by 2022. 

According to cloud computing statistics from 2020, all cloud services were on the rise in terms of revenue, without any signs of slowing down. The global potential for development is vast. Big regions of Africa, Asia, and even South America are still waiting to develop infrastructure that would allow for efficient employment of cloud computing services. 

2. The global SaaS market will surpass the 145 billion US$ mark in 2022.

(Source: Statista, Statista)

The definition of software as a service (SaaS) involves at least two parties – the cloud service provider who has the appropriate infrastructure and specific applications employed by the consumer. Within this model, the consumer doesn’t own the software in any way and doesn’t have the right to change it, except within the scope previously allowed by the service provider. 

Here’s the scoop:

SaaS is what we mostly use in everyday life. For example, using a web browser or an email is usually a SaaS type of activity.

3. Global IaaS revenues will amount to US$107 billion in 2022.

(Source: Statista)

IaaS means “infrastructure as a service.” The IaaS definition is – providing infrastructure for various activities (operating systems, applications, storage), while the service provider usually is not the only one to be able to control the software directly. 

It’s safe to say that within the IaaS model, the consumer has more control of the software than with SaaS. So, things like virtual machines, networks, and storage are some of the main components of IaaS. 

4. According to cloud computing statistics from 2021, Canada’s IaaS market is expected to reach  $US1.5 billion by the end of the year. 

 (Source: Statista)

It gets better. With an annual growth rate of nearly 17%, we may expect to see Canada’s IaaS market climbing up to 3 billion US$ by 2025. The Spend per Employee in IaaS is estimated to be US$76.68 in 2021.

5. The global PaaS market will reach US$71 billion in 2022.

(Source: Statista)

PaaS means “platform as a service.” Within this model, consumers utilize the provider’s infrastructure to run applications that the provider did not necessarily develop. The consumer doesn’t usually have control over the infrastructure and the platform itself. 

---

Deployment Models of Cloud Technology

6. Public cloud is by far the most utilized deployment model worldwide and the one with the largest revenues. 

(Source: Statista, Newswire)

Although it’s pretty challenging to compare the market sizes of public, private, and hybrid models exactly, it’s safe to say that public clouds bring in the most cash. In part, this is due to the widespread adoption of cloud services in the developed world. 

The biggest public cloud providers are:

1. AWS (Amazon Web Services)
2. Azure (Microsoft)
3. Google Cloud

7. With more than 30% of the market share, AWS leads the industry. 

(Source: Statista, Newswire)

In Q4 2020, AWS had by far the biggest chunk of the cloud market share, with 32%. Azure was net with 20%, and Google came a distant third with 9 %. AWS’s market share also has the highest growth rate, which has only increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

That being said:

These companies are not only public cloud providers. However, public services constitute the majority of their revenues and offers. 

As far as Canadian cloud computing is concerned, we see that in 2020, 29% of the IT budget of all Canadian businesses was allocated to public clouds. 

8. Canada’s cloud computing spending will reach US$10.3 billion in 2023. 

(Source: Statista)

Public cloud spending in Canada will nearly double between 2019 and 2023. In 2019, it amounted to US$5.8 billion. This represents a 16% CAGR over a four-year period, which only shows that global patterns of cloud spending and market size are manifest in Canada, too. 

9. Public cloud services are adopted by around 92% of all Canadian businesses.

(Source: Newswire)

As a part of the wider Government of Canada Cloud Adoption Strategy, we see more and more Canadian businesses investing in cloud computing. This particular stat goes only for SaaS adoption, and it shows that virtually all businesses use some form of SaaS services.

10. 34 and 47% of all Canadian cloud computing companies use IaaS and PaaS in one form or another. 

(Source: Newswire)

According to the most recent cloud computing statistics, IaaS and PaaS are somewhat less popular among Canadian businesses. However, some news agencies hypothesize that we should expect a further increase in the adoption of the latter two models.

11. Private cloud market size was around $US60 billion in 2020.

(Source: GrandViewResearch, Parallels)

We see that the share of the private cloud market is not as big as the public one. This is because most businesses do not have to opt for private clouds, at least not entirely. However, those who really have to pay attention to the security of information usually choose private cloud providers. 

12. VMWare leads the private cloud market, with a 7% share.

(Source: GrandViewResearch, Parallels)

Generally speaking, the situation in this segment of the market is more balanced than that in the public cloud market, where Amazon and Microsoft take the lion’s share. IBM has significant shares in both markets – 4% in private and 5% in public. While there are fewer private cloud users, those who do employ these services pay much more than public or hybrid cloud users. 

13. Hybrid cloud market size was around US$52 billion in 2020.

(Source: Mordor Intelligence)

The hybrid model is probably the one for the future, especially for businesses that might choose to use private clouds for particularly sensitive data and public clouds for not-so-sensitive activities. 

We’ve seen that service cost is also a factor, and hybrid models provide great flexibility when it comes to price accommodation. This way, businesses may opt for public clouds in case of unexpected financial problems. 

14. 41% of all Canadian organizations plan to invest in hybrid and multicloud technology.

(Source: Newswire)

This is indicative of the most recent trend in the world of cloud computing in Canada. As mentioned earlier, cloud computing is not a battlefield where different models fight for primacy. Rather, most companies will benefit from combining different types of cloud services, going back and forth between public, private, and communal clouds. 

15. Community cloud is the least popular solution, with only a US$1.5 billion market share in 2017. 

(Source: ResearchAndMarkets)

According to the most recent cloud computing statistics, the value of community cloud market segment should reach 6 billion US$ by 2023. Simply put, community cloud is when different stakeholders from the same community (not necessarily in the geographical sense) invest together in cloud infrastructure which they then share. 

So this is basically like public cloud, but instead of opting for Amazon or Microsoft, some businesses may choose to develop their own clouds that are public only within a strictly defined community. 

---

Cloud Computing in Canada – Biggest Providers

16. Eleks, with US$25+ million annual revenues, is one of the biggest cloud companies operating in Canada.

(Source: Eleks, BusinessOfApps)

Headquartered in Toronto, the international IT hub, Eleks has an incredible opportunity to thrive in the silicon valley of Canada. It employs more than 1600 experts. In addition to its North American presence, it has several offices in Europe. 

17. Leonovus received significant investment from the Canadian government, with $1.5 million worth of software sales. 

(Source: GlobeNewswire)

This may not sound like a lot, but Leonovus is a very specialized Canadian cloud computing company, and the Department of National Defence uses its services. This is a big move since countries would rarely outsource such important activities unless they are entirely sure of the quality and confidentiality of Leonovus. 

18. Sync.com, with a $1.71 million annual revenue, is one of the biggest Canada cloud hosting companies in terms of the number of users.

(Source: Medium)

Sync.com is based in Toronto and offers 5GB of free space for starters. This is a sort of standard in the market, as iCloud Canada, for instance, also offers this exact amount of free cloud storage space. Sync.com has 400,000 users in Canada. 

19. eStruxture, from Montreal, focuses more on industrial partners, and it works with 900 clients. 

(Source: Medium)

The clients are primarily businesses in telecommunications and the banking sector.

Now:

Keep in mind that in this section we’ve only touched upon cloud Canada companies. However, as far as absolute market share and popularity are concerned, the big three (Amazon cloud storage Canada, Microsoft Cloud Azure, and Google Cloud) are by far the most popular cloud providers. 

20. The top ten Canadian SaaS cloud computing companies together make more than $5.7 billion per year.

(Source: AppStudio)

In 2016, the combined revenue of the ten biggest Canadian SaaS companies was somewhere around $5.7 billion. D&H was the biggest SaaS company in terms of revenue, with $1.6  billion, and it is followed by Mitel, which cashed in $1.5 billion in 2016 alone.

---

Wrap up

Cloud computing statistics come in handy to people who are planning to invest in this modern technology. This is an excellent idea since there are no signs of the cloud computing market slowing down its growth. 

We’ve seen that cloud computing in Canada closely follows global trends, with all the big global players reappearing in Canada’s market, too. However, there are also many specialized Canadian cloud providers, that, instead of trying to battle the big players like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, try to provide custom-tailored cloud services in Canada.