COVID-19 Could Expose the Cloud's Limits, Says GlobalData Study

COVID-19 (or Coronavirus) is likely to be the most impactful thing to affect the technology industry in 2020. The scale of the crisis will have major implications for enterprise consumption of IT and cloud computing resources, according to a recent report by GlobalData, a data and analytics company.

GlobalData recently published a fully revised report, ‘Tech, Media & Telecom Trends 2020’, to reflect the impact of COVID-19 on 17 separate TMT sectors and the leading companies within. It reportedly discusses the short- and long-term impacts of COVID-19 on each sector, and ranks on a company-by-company basis the individual impact of COVID-19 alongside nine other themes that affect that sector. All sectors will be negatively impacted.

Chris Drake, Principal Analyst, Global IT Technology and Software at GlobalData, said: “The crisis will impact different verticals in different ways. For some, it will create a slump in demand and the postponement of key IT projects. For others, it is likely to spur demand for cloud computing and other IT solutions, including edge computing, as organizations accelerate and adjust their digital transformation strategies. As businesses shutter their brick and mortar operations and, where they can, transition to a remote workforce, it is clear how important the cloud is for continuity of operations. Any organization that actively resisted digitalization is now confronted with a harsh reality. This puts cloud providers in a strong position."