• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechPointCloud

Microsoft Azure Cloud Gaining Traction in Business

Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 15, 2017, 5:53 PM ET
Businessman Looks Up At Red Ladder Extending Into The Clouds
A businessman carrying a briefcase stands at the bottom of a red ladder. He gazes up at the red ladder which disappears into the cloudy sky. The clouds allow for text and copy.DNY59—Getty Images

Use of Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform is on the rise, according to The 2017 State of the Cloud Report compiled by cloud management company RightScale. That’s good news for what are generally seen as the number two and three players in public cloud, respectively, following market leader Amazon Web Services.

A survey of just over 1,000 IT professionals on their usage of public cloud showed Microsoft Azure adoption up to 34% from 20% last year. Likewise, 15% of respondents used Google (GOOG) Cloud this year, up from 10% a year ago. Twenty percent of the survey respondents are RightScale customers and 61% hail from the U.S.

Meanwhile, AWS remains the market leader, with usage holding steady at 57% year-over-year. Penetration of IBM (IBM) rose slightly from 7% to 8% while Oracle (ORCL) Cloud adoption fell slightly from 4% to 3% over the same period.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily tech newsletter.

Public cloud refers to a massive array of servers, storage, and networking aggregated and managed by one company, which then rents out those resources to many customers. This model is gaining traction as companies seek to augment or even replace their own data centers, which is why many legacy tech companies have jumped into a market AWS kicked off in 2006.

As Fortune reported earlier Wednesday, many big software companies—like Salesforce (CRM), Workday (WDAY), Box (BOX), SAP (SAP), and Infor—that typically stream their software from their own data centers are also using AWS, Microsoft, or other public cloud facilities to run some of their new products.

public-cloud-enterprise

Among a subset of bigger “enterprise customers” RightScale surveyed, 59% said they use Amazon (AMZN) up from 56% last year. Azure, meanwhile, saw a bigger jump with 43% of respondents on Azure now, compared to 26% last year. Microsoft (MSFT), by virtue of its Windows-and-Office franchises, is already established in many of these accounts and is pushing them to embrace Azure as well. Companies in this enterprise category have 1,000 or more employees.

public-cloud-yoy

However, there’s a not-so-silver lining to all this adoption. While public cloud is sold as a relatively inexpensive alternative to buying and running your own servers typically at partial capacity much of the time, the model leads to waste.

If a developer powers up a bunch of cloud servers to run a job and forgets to shut them down when it’s done, the company pays for unused computing cycles. And customers are realizing this. More than half (53%) of the respondents said cost optimization is a top priority, and that percentage is higher (64%) for experienced cloud users who have been at it for a while.

For more on Microsoft Azure, watch:

One reason for cost overruns? A lot of early cloud use was initiated by a single team of developers trying to get a specific job done, often in a way that was not sanctioned by (or even known to) corporate IT. But all those one-off jobs add up, and if IT has no window into what’s going on, costs can get funky, fast.

While respondents said they think they waste 30% of their cloud spending, RightScale thinks things are worse: It estimates that 30% to 45% of cloud budgets are wasted. RightScale has a dog in that fight: It sells services that help customers manage workloads running in different clouds and to minimize waste.

 

About the Author
Barb Darrow
By Barb Darrow
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
'I just don't have a good feeling about this': Top economist Claudia Sahm says the economy quietly shifted and everyone's now looking at the wrong alarm
By Eleanor PringleJanuary 31, 2026
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
Future of Work
Ford CEO has 5,000 open mechanic jobs with up to 6-figure salaries from the shortage of manually skilled workers: 'We are in trouble in our country'
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJanuary 31, 2026
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
In 2026, many employers are ditching merit-based pay bumps in favor of ‘peanut butter raises’
By Emma BurleighFebruary 2, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, February 2, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerFebruary 2, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Big Tech
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative cut 70 jobs as the Meta CEO’s philanthropy goes all in on mission to 'cure or prevent all disease'
By Sydney LakeFebruary 1, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Musk’s fantasy for a future where work is optional just got more real: U.K. minister calls for universal basic income to cushion AI-related job losses
By Sasha RogelbergFebruary 1, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Latest in Tech

two men smile in front of the camera
CryptoCryptocurrency
Kairos, which is building a cross-platform tool for prediction markets traders, raises $2.5 million from a16z crypto
By Carlos GarciaFebruary 3, 2026
2 hours ago
Cryptostablecoins
Famed startup incubator Y Combinator will let founders receive funds in stablecoins
By Ben WeissFebruary 3, 2026
2 hours ago
davos
CommentaryCareers
While elites debate geopolitics, Americans are rethinking college in the search for economic mobility
By Ed MitzenFebruary 3, 2026
3 hours ago
d'amaro
C-SuiteDisney
Disney names parks chief Josh D’Amaro as next CEO
By Nick LichtenbergFebruary 3, 2026
3 hours ago
musk
AIspace
‘Space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale’: Elon Musk hatches grand plan as he merges SpaceX and xAI
By Bernard Condon, Matt O'Brien and The Associated PressFebruary 3, 2026
3 hours ago
waymo
InnovationAutomation
Google raises another $16 billion for self-driving taxi unit Waymo
By Michael Liedtke and The Associated PressFebruary 3, 2026
3 hours ago