What Cloud Customer Data Reveals About Multi-Cloud

Even when half of the companies go multi-cloud as they increase cloud spend, they still spend 📊 70-80% on the primary cloud provider.

Ofcom recently published analysis on multi-cloud adoption in the UK, based on customer data from 3 top hyperscalers, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

🏁 Companies Naturally Start Single-Cloud

In the $10K-1M cloud spend bracket, only 12-13% of customers use multi-cloud. If you sell to smaller accounts, they probably use a single provider.

But when we focus on higher spend tiers that matter most for enterprise alliance managers, this changes.

$1M-20M Cloud Spend: Multi-Cloud Emerges

For customers spending over $1M annually, the multi-cloud share jumps to ~30%.

💰 $20M+ Cloud Spend: Multi-Cloud Dominates

Move up to the $20M+ enterprise spenders, and multi-cloud is the new normal. Ofcom's analysis reveals that a 45-55% of these high spenders use multiple clouds.

🎯 But There's a Twist: Primary Cloud Commits Still Rule

Before you go all-in on multi-cloud story, consider this: Ofcom found that "Customers in higher spend bands who use multi-cloud spend a greater proportion on their primary cloud."

This means that:

The average spend in a two-cloud architecture is around 80/20 – 80% on the primary cloud and 20% on the secondary cloud

Just under a third (~30%) of multi-cloud customers have at least a 70/30 spend split

In a 3-cloud architecture, the average spend split is approximately 75/15/10, with “the primary cloud generally accounted for about three quarters of spend”

This means that the bulk of the commit likely lands at the preferred customer cloud.

💎 The Cloud Marketplace Takeaway: A Balanced Approach

The most effective alliance managers will craft GTM strategies and train their sales teams to tick the multi-cloud box while maintaining a focus to identify and leverage primary cloud commits.

For the $20M+ enterprises, assume they have commitments across several clouds, but the largest chunk will probably with one.

The future is multi-cloud, but success hinges on understanding the nuances. Master them, and you'll unlock your growth.

Curious, if you agree with this analysis and how are you adapting your marketplace GTM for a multi-cloud world?

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