What useful things can you learn from the report on clouds in Russia

The article will be useful to developers of cloud applications, because it contains not only bare figures on the volume and growth rate of individual market segments. In the Odin SMB Cloud Insights report, we asked small and medium-sized businesses (the main cloud consumers) the question of how developers can improve cloud services so that they are more likely to buy SMBs. Details of the research - under the cut.

Spoiler: IaaS is leading, SaaS is catching up, communications are growing wildly, the web is saturated.

Briefly about the general achievement of the market - we still waited for the very explosive growth that experts predicted 3-4 years ago, and which we have not seen since then. But finally, the total market volume over the past two years has grown in ruble terms by more than 4 times and has reached 88 billion rubles (or $ 1.6 billion) to date. Our market has moved into the category of stabilizing services with a penetration share of 40-75%. This, in general, closes the answer to the question whether the business in Russia is ready to use the clouds - not only ready, but already quite buys.

The second important question is how much companies have ceased to be afraid to store data in the clouds. We noted that the heat is decreasing. Just 3 years ago, 60% of respondents gave the answer “we are afraid” (and this, by the way, was the highest rate in the world!). Today, only 42% of companies respond this way, and the share of other reasons is growing: for example, many already say that they do not go to the clouds simply because you need to somehow use already purchased servers, or that cloud services are expensive.

And now - some interesting results on the types of cloud services: there are exactly four of them, as in the previous study.

IaaS (infrastructure as a service)

These services are still in the first place, growth in this segment is twice as high as previously made forecasts. The share of using “personal” company servers is steadily decreasing, for example, in 2013 only 15% of Russian SMBs used server hosting. To date, the share of virtual hosting has more than doubled.

• The reasons why SMB companies refrain from acquiring IaaS services in Russia: 42% are worried about data security, 27% are dissatisfied with the high cost of services, 24% are forced to use equipment already purchased (or recall other technical obstacles).
• It will be important for hosting providers to understand the reasons why they choose an IaaS service provider: 38% - at a cost, 25% - ease of working with a service, 20% - security, 11% - already bought from it, 10% - as quickly as possible enter into or expand a contract.
• 61% of SMBs are ready to pay 1000 rubles a month for higher availability of services. 52% will pay the same amount for unlimited storage.
• The most popular services that are bought in addition to the main IaaS services (in decreasing order): backup (yes, don’t be surprised and don’t say who needs it. As you can see, it is necessary!), Control panel, security, LAMP development platforms. By 2018, the largest sales growth will be in backup and security services (54%).
• Where they look for IaaS services to buy: 68% - online, 21% - according to expert recommendations, 17% - learn from business news, 12% - discuss with local VARs (resellers), 11% - find out from their current service provider . At the same time, 41% of companies combine several methods at once.
• Where to buy: web hosting in the first place, VAR in the second, telecommunications companies in the third, cloud service access companies in the fourth, and very few in retail computer stores.
• What type of data is usually uploaded to the clouds (in descending order): databases, analytical data, content management systems, CRM, payment systems and HR systems, accounting and finance.

• 76% of SMEs are satisfied with their current IaaS service provider. But they believe that it would be possible to improve work in the following areas: productivity (speed, availability) - 43%, support - 16%, security breaches (15%), ease of use (12%), self-service capabilities (12%) .
• What do companies do if they are not very satisfied with IaaS services: 48% change their vendor or buy additional services from it to make it at least a little easier, 34% look for alternative options, 16% buy their own servers.

By 2018, these services will remain in first place in the total volume of cloud services, and the IaaS market will grow with an average annual growth rate of 20% due to new SMB without servers, which immediately connect cloud services and SMB with servers to companies that will move to the clouds.

Cloud-based business applications (SaaS services)

Confident second place, despite the fact that in our previous study we predicted this segment first. However, the market for cloud-based business applications has grown more than 3 times over the past two years.

• IMPORTANT: unlike all other types of cloud services, the cost of an application for SMB companies is a much less important factor of choice than its capabilities. This suggests that developers need to increase functionality, rather than reduce prices. In addition to the availability of the necessary functions (45%), the choice of the application most affects its suitability to business needs (25%), price (23%) and usability (6%).

• Only 14% of companies buy the application immediately, without using its trial period, which is completely understandable, especially when it comes to complex corporate SaaS services. At the same time, 78% of applications are not purchased in a package of services, but separately. This suggests that having a trial period is more important than providing packaged business applications. In order for such packages to sell well, they must have price transparency and the most popular services.
• The most popular applications (in descending order): cloud storage and file sharing, backup, online accounting, payment and HR systems, CRM, VDI, technical support systems and HelpDesk. And here is the rating we predict by 2018:

• How users find applications for purchase (in descending order): online, from industry news, according to someone’s recommendation, on local IT resources and at their current service provider.

SaaS remains one of the most promising categories of cloud services, and this market will have the fastest average annual growth rate of 26%, which will allow it to equal the level of IaaS in money terms in 3 years. At the same time, the top-selling services for all these 3 years will remain today's leaders of the rating - storage and file sharing systems and online backup systems.

Communication and Collaboration Solutions

This segment has grown almost 19 times. Here we included such services as mail hosting, virtual telephone exchanges and other services for organizing joint communications. The main thing that the service provider needs to take care of is security, as well as to teach the market the possibilities of voice services in the cloud.

Email Services:

• In this sector, like in no other, there are many free alternatives - mail services, instant messaging systems and so on. How then do companies explain the transition to paid solutions? 43% are worried about security issues, 21% think the cost is acceptable, 21% want their mail to look professional and have its own domain name.
• Only 39% of respondents use the services of free email services, 37% - the services of service providers, 8% - have their own mail server. The figure does not seem too significant until you remember that only 4% of companies in Russia had paid email services two years ago.

• Only 49% of SMEs are satisfied with their postal service provider. Why "only"? The fact is that for all other services, satisfaction with their quality is expressed by more than 70% of respondents. This is what users call as areas requiring improvement: productivity (speed, availability) - 55%, ease of use (23%), professional tech support - 15%, security - 7%.
• If the company is very dissatisfied with the quality of paid services, then this is what it does: 59% buy additional services from the vendor or change it, 30% look for alternative options, 6% buy their own servers, 5% stop using mail at all (!) .
• The key email features that customers need are security, archiving, and calendar sharing.

Voice Services:

• 72% of SMBs in Russia do not use any cloud-based voice services, 22% use their telephone exchanges, and only 6% buy such services in the cloud (3% of such users 2 years ago). The main barriers to buying such services are, first of all, the cost (39%) and the lack of information about the capabilities of services of this kind (32%), and only then - technical restrictions (24%) and concern about data security (17%).

• Key business features: integration with employees' mobile devices, instant messaging systems, the ability to transmit voice over Wi-Fi and access to a single number.
• Why they buy such services: 30% - reasonable price, 25% - the business has grown very quickly, 20% - significant changes in the business.
• 71% of SMEs are satisfied with their cloud voice service provider, and among the main areas of improvement are productivity (speed, availability) and the level of technical support.
• How SMBs solve these problems: 49% buy additional services from the vendor or change it, 39% look for alternative options, 8% stop using virtual PBXs in general, 4% buy their own servers for this.
• The most popular additional applications in this sector are instant messaging systems (growth 38%, growth forecast by 2018 - 58%), web conferences (growth 9%, growth forecast 26%), mobile device management (growth 3%, growth forecast - 22%).

The leaders among the services will remain instant communication tools such as Skype, in addition, the number of companies using virtual telephone exchanges will grow, mainly (69%) due to those who migrate to the clouds from internal servers, as well as due to new market participants.

Web presence and web applications

This market has grown more than 2.5 times: in Russia now more than one million SMBs have their own website (82% of medium-sized companies, 73% of small businesses and 47% of micro companies). Two years ago, only 54% of companies had their sites. Only 12% of today's sites are supported on internal servers of firms, and 19% of them plan to move to the clouds in the next three years. All other companies use the services of hosting companies, that is, more than 70% of all SMBs, which is good news.

• Key factors when choosing a web host: the cost of services (69%), professional technical support and usability (37%), the ability to quickly scale resources (23%), security (19%), existing relationships (18%), brand value ( 7%).
• Who they buy from: web hosters (over 70%), telecommunications companies, VAR and pure cloud providers (their share is extremely small). 85% of services in this sector are bought online.
• A very interesting figure: the design on 67% of the websites was created by the designer on the staff of the company, and 24% of them - with the help of website designers.
• A depressing figure: at a time when everyone was shouting about mobilization, only 34% of websites were optimized for viewing from mobile devices, which indicates a great reserve for the growth of this segment. 41% can be seen on the screen of a mobile device without optimization, and 25% of sites can only be viewed on a computer.

• The most popular additional services (in descending order): SEO optimization (forecast for 2018 - growth by 62%), content management systems (growth - 52%), backups (growth - 46%), website building tools, options for electronic commerce, monitoring and security, SSL, mobile optimization, content generation systems.

• Who buys additional services: 66% - from a web host (48% immediately in the service package, 18% - after the initial purchase of the hosting), 28% - directly from the developer of the corresponding application, from another provider - 6%.
• 76% of SMEs are satisfied with their current host. But the following areas of improvement are also called: productivity (speed, availability) - 49%, support - 27%, ease of use (27%), security breaches (17%), self-service capabilities (17%).

By 2018, a double growth of the market is expected, while the services of mobile website optimization will become the most attractive niche for hosters. But service providers will have to consider the main issue - the issue of the cost of such services.

General conclusions:

The Russian market today shows one of the highest growth rates in the global market, despite the fact that we were in a rather unstable economic situation. On the other hand, a number of incentive laws, the transition of both global players and entire sectors of the local software market to the clouds, as well as the activation of small and medium-sized businesses, yielded a very positive result. Our general forecast: the market will continue to grow at the expense of small and medium-sized businesses that intend to migrate to the clouds in the next 3 years, as well as due to the further development of SMB in Russia.

The main thing that we expect from the next two years is the growth and complication of the functionality of cloud services and a decrease in their cost. The market also expects service developers to strengthen data security and qualified technical support for users, and more transparent pricing in service packages from service providers.

Briefly about the study:

The Odin SMB Cloud Insight study has been conducted for the fifth year. In 2015, 400 Russian companies were surveyed to find out how their IT needs have changed over the past two years and how they use cloud services now. The companies surveyed were divided into three groups: micro-companies (from 1 to 9 employees), small (10-49) and medium-sized (50-250). The full version of the study can be downloaded here .

You can ask all questions in the comments.