Cloud service and
infrastructure-related sales have been documented as zooming up the marketing
charts at a dizzying clip—up 21 percent in total revenue year over year—according
to IT market researcher Gartner.
Worldwide software as a
service (SaaS) revenue is on track to surpass the $12 billion level in 2011,
which computes to a 20.7 percent increase over 2010's record of $10 billion,
researchers said in a report released earlier this week.
Breaking down worldwide SaaS
revenue into regions, Gartner reported that North America leads by a large
margin and is forecasting nearly two-thirds (63.6 percent) of all SaaS revenue
by the end of the calendar year to be sold in that section of the world.
Gartner predicts that by the
end of 2015, North America's share will level off at about 61 percent of
worldwide SaaS revenue.
Naturally, the United States
represents the largest opportunity for SaaS, Gartner said, because it is the
most mature of the national markets. SaaS revenue in North America is projected
to total $7.7 billion in 2011, a 19 percent increase from $6.5 billion in 2010.
North American SaaS revenue is forecast to reach $13 billion in 2015, Gartner
said.
The top issues encountered
when deploying SaaS vary by region, the researcher indicated. Limited
flexibility of customization is a top issue in the EMEA region (Europe, the
Middle East and Africa); limited integration to existing systems is the primary
reason in North America and the Asia-Pacific region.
"Increasing familiarity
with the model, continued oversight on IT budgets and the growth of platform as
a service [PaaS] developer communities and interest in cloud computing are now
driving adoption forward," said Gartner Research Director Sharon Mertz.
"Usage varies within
markets, regions and countries, and the reasons for adopting SaaS vary by
region. Total cost of ownership (TCO) is a primary driver in the [EMEA region],
while ease and speed of deployment is the key reason for choosing SaaS in
Asia-Pacific and North America."
As for other regions,
Gartner projects that Western Europe's SaaS revenue is on pace to reach $2.7
billion in 2011, up 23.3 percent from $2.2 billion in 2010. SaaS revenue is
projected to reach $4.8 billion in 2015. In Eastern Europe, SaaS revenue is
expected to reach $131.4 million in 2011, up 29.8 percent from 2010 revenue of
$101.2 million. Eastern European SaaS revenue is forecast to total $270.1
million in 2015.
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