Microsoft’s recent earnings release for the last quarter completes the financial picture for 2017 calendar year. Microsoft’s cloud revenue of $18.6bn for 2017 leads Amazon with $17.5bn. Does this mean Microsoft is winning the so-called ‘cloud wars’?
There are arguments over how each company defines its cloud revenue and whether these figures are a fair reflection of the cloud market. However, where Amazon is undoubtedly the leader in Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Microsoft is establishing itself as no.1 in the enterprise space.
2017 cloud revenue
- Microsoft: $18.6B
- Amazon: $17.5B
- IBM: $17.0B
- Salesforce.com: $9.92B (12 mos. ending Oct. 31)
- Oracle: $5.6B (12 mos. ending Nov. 30)
- SAP: $4.71B
- Google: $3B
Source: @bobevansIT
Microsoft’s approach has been to enable digital transformation with end-to-end enterprise cloud solutions, from the Azure IoT platform to the Dynamics 365 integrated CRM and ERP applications. The completeness of Microsoft’s cloud products and services can save organisations significant effort and expense trying to integrate disparate solutions from numerous vendors.
The Dynamics products are driving growth in Microsoft cloud services, with revenue for Dynamics 365 increasing by 67%. Analyst Christopher Eberle of Instinet estimates Dynamics 365 revenue will grow from $1.6bn in 2017 to $4.5bn in 2020.
Microsoft looks to its productivity and cloud solutions to continue to drive revenue, with CEO, Satya Nadella, saying,
“Our investments in IoT, data, and AI services across cloud and the edge position us to further accelerate growth.”
