IDC estimates that the Cloud market will continue to grow at a pace of 17.5% until 2025. Software companies who are not yet using public cloud platforms should evaluate the business case for moving to Cloud, such as Microsoft Azure. Research has identified that  software development companies who rely on Azure benefit from the following three growth drivers:

• Microsoft Azure market share growth due to expansion of the platform and increased demand for Cloud-based solutions;
• Expanding capabilities of Azure that allow companies to provide new technologies and services;
• New marketing and sales channels.

In a sequence of blog posts, we will summarise some of the latest reports published by  Forrester and IDC and focussed on understanding and quantifying the benefits software development companies get from using Microsoft Azure.

Leveling the playing field 

Azure provides independent software vendors with access to tools of enterprise-level quality. As an application-centric mega cloud provider, it enables software companies with a broad portfolio of services across the full cloud stack which helps smaller sized to level the playing field against larger competitors.

As a result, software companies can focus on developing their offerings and making a more considerable impact on markets.  Azure advanced capabilities include end-to-end solutions that enable effective DevOps and functional practices across each phase of the application lifecycle (plan, develop, deliver, and operate). Developers can build, test, and deploy their products to any platform as well as the Cloud.

For software development companies, Azure serves as a significant business accelerator enabling greater agility and productivity, which, in turn, drives higher revenue and profitability. Research shows that some of the key business growth drivers for ISVs using Azure are:

• the ability to accelerate time to develop a new application by 63%;
• improved operational efficiencies created by automation;
• increased developer productivity, and
• lower costs.

Software development companies who adopt Azure as their primary cloud platform have experienced the following:

• 44% increase in revenue from cloud offerings;
• 75% growth in profits that can be attributed to higher-value solutions that reach the market faster;
• 58% faster time to market, which allows companies to increase the number of new offerings to consumers;
• 20-40% productivity gain can be attributed to agile methodologies and automated performance testing.