Cloud Computing Turns From Buzzword into Business Reality – But Not Yet In HR
November 10, 2011 No CommentsSOURCE: HR Magazine
Retailers fear a dismal Christmas season as Grinch-like analysts predict poor festive trading. And public sector cuts continue to run deep, with councils reportedly forced to hang their Christmas lights early, during September’s routine maintenance due to mangled budgets.
But, one area at least, appears to be ‘double-dip-proof’: the ‘cloud’ – the delivery of computing as a service, rather than a product, where shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network (typically the internet).
Cloud computing is bucking the downward trend and seeing year-on-year job growth, according to cloud recruitment specialist, Resource on Demand. Year-on-year cloud recruitment figures have increased by 52.9%, it announced. According to global technology research organisation Gartner, worldwide software as a service (SaaS) revenue is on pace to reach $12.1 billion (£7.6 billion) in 2011, a 20.7% increase from 2010 of $10 billion (£6.3 billion). The North American region is forecast to account for 63.6% of worldwide SaaS revenue in 2011. By the end of 2015, North America’s share will represent 60.8% of worldwide SaaS revenue.