Cloud Computing in Use at 46.5% of Companies in Germany

Among German companies, 46.5% are currently using cloud computing technology for their business processes, while 11.1% are planning to. A further 18.2% of all companies surveyed are still discussing whether or not to introduce the technology. “Cloud computing has clearly established itself as a key component of modern IT infrastructure at German companies,” says industry expert Anna Wolf of the ifo Institute. In cloud computing, IT resources such as software, storage, and computing power are made available via the internet. Companies use this technology to optimize their business processes.

Leading the way in adopting cloud computing is the service sector, with 49.0% of service providers running cloud-based applications. In manufacturing, too, many companies (48.7%) set store by cloud computing as a resource. Here, the technology is most widespread in the pharmaceutical and automotive industries. Although it is still primarily large companies that have adopted cloud computing, the proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises using it stands at a respectable 38.7%.

The question about attitudes toward cloud computing technology was posed by the ifo Institute on behalf of the Hanseatic Blockchain Institute e.V. as part of the ifo Business Survey for June 2023. The ifo Business Survey is based on approx. 9,000 monthly responses from businesses in manufacturing, the service sector, trade, and construction. Its findings here are calculated based on the weighted fractions of companies that fall into the answer options “in use,” “planned,” “under discussion,” and “not a topic” of a corresponding question in the ifo Business Survey.