The Cebr report calculates that 177.3 billion Euros per year will be generated by 2015, if companies across France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK continue to adopt cloud technology as expected. Significantly, the research finds that the lion’s share of this value will be provided through the adoption of private and hybrid cloud computing models. The Cebr found that the annual economic benefit of cloud computing for each country by 2015 will be: • France – 37.4 billion Euros • Germany – 49.6 billion Euros • Italy – 35.1 billion Euros • Spain – 25.2 billion Euros • UK – 30.0 billion Euros 177.3 billion Euros could cover the loans already made to some of the indebted countries in the region, such as Ireland (85 billion Euros) and Greece (110 billion Euros), and would comfortably pay for the four-year 95.7 billion Euros cuts to public expenditure recently announced by the UK government. Cloud computing is a new approach to IT, in which technology is made available to businesses in a scalable manner and as a service, when they need it. This speeds up time-to-market, removes traditional barriers to entry and allows companies to exploit new market opportunities. This ‘business creation’, as a direct result of cloud computing, will have a profound effect on the market structure of many sectors as competition increases and, thus, on global macro-economic performance, according to the Cebr. The Cebr believes that cloud computing will be a significant driver of economic growth, competitiveness and business creation across the Eurozone. It highlights the important role that this technology will have in the economic recovery of the territory, particularly in facing the increasing threat posed by emerging economies that traditionally benefit from higher levels of competitiveness. The study focussed on the three most common cloud computing models today: public cloud, which is controlled by a cloud provider; private cloud, which is controlled internally by an organisation’s own IT team; and hybrid cloud, a combination of the two. By 2015 Cebr predicts that 133 billion Euros – or 75 percent of the total economic benefit of 177.3 billion Euros that year – will be accounted for by the non-public cloud models. The private cloud model offers the best of both worlds: organisations get the dynamic, on-demand, self-service and scalable benefits of the cloud, but control remains with the IT department so security and governance is not compromised. During the Cebr’s investigations, it also found that the private cloud will increase business development and business creation by 23.8 billion Euros. The indirect and induced investment and general spending that results will generate demand for goods and services, which in turn increases gross value added (GVA) and employment in the economy. The Cebr predicts that the indirect economic benefits will result in additional GVA across all five countries of €280 billion Euros cumulatively – and 60 billion Euros annually – by 2015, and that indirect and induced employment generated between 2010 and 2015 could be as high as 2,396,000. As well as leveraging opportunities for business creation, companies are also able to make dramatic cost savings by employing cloud computing. The pay-as-you-go model means reduced capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenditure (OPEX) costs, quicker ROI, and more valuable re-deployment of resources. These savings can be re-invested, encouraging innovation, nurturing competitiveness and directly improving profitability – all with a measurable impact on the nation’s economy. more information