Cloud Usage Growth Trends

Cloud infrastructure usage has been growing steadily over the years, with a market size of approximately USD 250 billion in 2022. However, the growth rate has been reducing from 41.6% in 2018 to 28.9% in 2022. Two-thirds of the market share, approximately USD 156 billion, goes to Amazon, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. In terms of market share, AWS still holds the majority, followed by Azure and Google Cloud Platform.

Quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) comparisons of global usage show that cloud usage grows more in the second and fourth quarters of each year between 2018-2022. Japan’s cloud infrastructure usage (2022) follows the global trend: AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform account for approximately 4% of the global cloud infrastructure usage. Amazon Web Services has the largest market share in Japan, followed by Azure and Google Cloud Platform.

AWS Partner Companies and SPP Partners

It is estimated that 7,112 AWS partner companies are registered with the AWS Partner Solution Finder as of March 2023, with Japan ranking 2nd in terms of the number of registered partners (545), after the United States (2,612 partners), Australia ranking 6th, and Singapore ranking 15th. SPP partners registered with AWS Partner Solution Finder include approximately 1,015 partners. Japan ranks second in terms of the number of SPP partners (113), after the United States (299).

Cloud Reseller Dependence

The majority of Japanese enterprises subscribe to cloud resellers rather than AWS, Azure, and GCP directly. Cloud reseller dependence is increasing from 43% in 2017 to 60.6% in 2022, and it is trending upward.

Alphaus Solution

Alphaus solution manages more than USD 200 million in AWS cloud usage from January to December 2022. In Japan, 17% of AWS Premier Partners and 26% of Advanced Partners are using Alphaus Solution. Using Alphaus solution, cloud resellers’ average profits increased by 9% with the highest profits recorded of 17% and the potential to grow further to more than 20%.

RI/SP Purchases

RI/SP are typically purchased during the year-end and New Year holidays, as well as during the period between March and May.

Discounts and Cloud Usage

Discounts provided by cloud resellers to companies do not appear to result in increased cloud usage; there is hardly any correlation.

‍The post was based on a report called “State of Cloud Reselling 2023 (Japan),” authored by Yo Fukuda (Senior Account Executive) and Shungo Arai (CFO/COO).