The Cloud Reveals a Surprise for Minneapolis Businesses

By: Chance Garrity, General Manager - North Central District, Microsoft Corp.

Which of the following statements is true regarding the impact of cloud computing on Minneapolis-St. Paul businesses?

  1. The cloud help businesses cut IT costs, but has no real role in creating new revenues.
  2. Shifting technology to the cloud means most companies will reduce their headcount, especially in the IT department.
  3. The cloud will not do much to improve the health of our economy in the Minneapolis area.

All these statements are false, according to a new study commissioned by Microsoft. It turns out that the cloud not only reduces costs for businesses of all sizes, but it also produces new revenues and actually creates new jobs—and the Minneapolis-St. Paul area is participating in this boon. In fact, the global Microsoft study finds that the cloud is helping to restore economic health all over the world.

Companies in the Twin Cities certainly are aware that, by shifting information technology infrastructure and applications to cloud-based services, they likely will spend far less on buying more servers, networking them, upgrading software and handling other routine chores. The cloud data centers keep the software that businesses rely on up to date and the infrastructure they use in good shape.

But the Microsoft study, conducted by IDC research, finds that the cloud also is generating new revenues and new hiring in companies here. According to the study, employing the cloud to free IT people from day-to-day manual upkeep gives them a lot more time to work on much more innovative projects that help the entire company run more efficiently. That IT innovation allows for business innovation, which leads to business revenues, which leads to job creation. 

In fact, the Microsoft study anticipates that the growing opportunity for innovation enabled by the cloud could produce revenue increases totaling $1.1 trillion annually by 2015 for businesses globally. The study further predicts that businesses will use this new revenue to create new jobs—nearly 14 million of them globally through 2015.

Equally important, the study indicates that these new jobs are not just in IT departments but are distributed throughout organizations. Businesses that spend the dollars that become available from cloud-computing efficiencies are expected to be hiring people in sales, finance, production, marketing, and other units.

Here in Minneapolis-St. Paul, the Microsoft study estimates, more than 8,000 new jobs will have been created by the end of 2012, and the cumulative total will reach 13,250 by the end of 2015. That’s enough Minnesotans to fill every seat in the Orpheum Theatre for five sell-out nights, with hundreds more waiting for tickets on Hennepin Avenue.

These newly created jobs are expected to be split evenly between large enterprises and smaller businesses, both globally and here in the Twin Cities. The hiring locally will be stimulated by our position as a hub for commerce, finance, health care, and manufacturing.

To learn more about Microsoft’s predictions for the cloud’s impact on jobs, check out the full study and additional resources on the Microsoft News Center.  The cloud seems to be building a brighter future for jobs in the Twin Cities.