• 26% of Traditional SMBs, 25% of Tech-focused SMBs, and 22% of Enterprises list pandemic recovery as their biggest challenge

Bengaluru : DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc., the cloud for developers, startups and small-to-medium sized businesses, announced the findings of its latest Currents report which is based on 2,400 interviews in 48 countries, including 300 from India.

According to the report, 65% businesses reported an increased dependency on cloud solutions due to the pandemic and, after the switch was made, 92% reported an increase in cloud usage during the peak of the pandemic said their cloud usage continued to increase in 2021, indicating that there is no slowdown in terms of digital acceleration and cloud adoption.

“Developers and SMBs require a different approach to the cloud that addresses their needs—our approach is centered around simplicity, community, support, open source and cost-effectiveness,” said Yancey Spruill, CEO at DigitalOcean. “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.”

Key Findings:

• SMBs need simplicity at a good price from their cloud providers.

SMBs of all types have less technical staff than enterprises and are more likely to have multiple priorities when it comes to managing cloud solutions. This report found that the responsibility of managing cloud services often falls on the CEO, president, or even the owner of the traditional SMB. On top of limited technical staff, traditional SMBs note cost (19%), technical training and education (13%), and time required to manage services (12%) as barriers to cloud adoption, showing traditional SMBs are calling for cloud solutions that are less complex and easier to manage.

• There is a knowledge gap amongst traditional SMBs when it comes to the cloud.

Traditional SMBs suffer from a knowledge gap around cloud solutions, which means their cloud setups are less complex than tech-focused SMBs and enterprises. For example, 48% of respondents from traditional SMBs are not familiar with the term “cloud native,” compared to the 5% of respondents from enterprises who are not familiar with the term. Meanwhile, 56% of respondents from traditional SMBs are not familiar with the term “digital native,” compared to the 18% of respondents from enterprises who are not familiar.

• COVID-19 has caused an increased reliance on the cloud.

Of the respondents who reported increased cloud usage in 2020 due to COVID-driven digital acceleration, 82% of traditional SMBs, 82% of tech SMBs, and 92% of enterprises said their cloud usage has continued to increase this year. 69% percent of respondents believe the cloud has helped their business recover from the ongoing pandemic. Businesses of all sizes say coping with the impacts of COVID-19 is the biggest challenge they face right now, but for traditional SMBs, keeping up with the technology curve is just behind.

• Cloud native businesses have unique challenges and characteristics.

Enterprises and tech-focused SMBs were more likely to be cloud native businesses than traditional SMBs–64% of enterprises, 58% of tech-focused SMBs, and 35% of traditional SMBs say they are cloud native. Cloud native businesses are also more likely to consider themselves startups, find hiring and training employees on technology solutions a greater challenge, and say the complexity of cloud solutions is more of a challenge than non-cloud native businesses.

Methodology

The Currents report is based on 2,400 interviews in 48 countries conducted by AspenFinn from September-October 2021. 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.