Microsoft Ireland commissioned a major report by Goodbody Economic Consultants which was published Today.  The report entitled Ireland’s Competitiveness and Jobs Opportunity:  Cloud Computing, documents that Ireland has the opportunity to create jobs and help restore competitiveness if we move quickly to establish Ireland as a Global Cloud Computing Centre of Excellence.

Making this move would enable Ireland to capture a disproportionately large share of the global Cloud Computing market estimated by analysts to be worth from €40 to €110 billion by 2014.  Additional findings of the report include:

  • Cloud Computing is a major evolving industry that has the potential to create €9.5 billion in annual sales per annum by 2014, providing 8,600 jobs. 
  • In addition, because Cloud Computing lowers costs to businesses, by migrating to the cloud the report estimates the establishment of an additional 2,000 new non-IT small and medium businesses employing 11,000 people.  
  • Early adoption of Cloud Computing by Irish users will take costs of €0.5 billion per annum out of Irish organisations.

In order to deliver on the opportunity the report makes a number of recommendations:

  • Organise Government Agency Supports into a Cloud Cluster Programme to attract FDI and provide access to new markets
  • Implement a high profile Government Cloud Computing project to showcase Ireland’s expertise globally
  • Close the gaps in awareness of Cloud Computing in Public and Private Sector 
  • Prioritise development of skills to support the Cloud Industry
  • Promote cloud computing to small businesses and start ups
  • We need to act now or other countries will pass us out 

We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the details of this report.  You can download it at www.microsoft.ie/cloudreport

 

You can also view early news coverage in the media from RTE here following an in studio interview on the One O’clock TV news.  The interview with Paul Rellis can be viewed 1 minute 20 seconds into the video on this news page:  http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0124/cloud-business.html   

 

There is also coverage on all breaking news websites including Silicon.  You can view this article here:  http://www.siliconrepublic.com/strategy/item/20077-cloud-can-deliver-up-to/