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In the ever-evolving world of cloud computing, the latest 2024 State of the Cloud Report from Flexera highlights essential strategies organizations use to navigate cloud usage. These strategies are shaping the approaches of IT professionals and cloud partners globally. The report reveals five critical insights related to Microsoft Azure, providing valuable trends for all channel partners to consider.

Cloud Provider Spending: The report shows that cloud spending remains significant, with almost half of all workloads and data now in the public cloud. There has been a notable increase in customer spending, with around 25 percent of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure customers investing anywhere from $500,000 to more than $5 million per month on these platforms. Monthly customer spending is nearly identical, with each category within 1 percentage point of the other. 

Cloud Provider Share: AWS and Microsoft Azure continue to be the most popular cloud platforms in 2024, while there is growing interest in the Google Cloud Platform (GCP). When it comes to workload distribution, 35 percent of customers use Azure, 29 percent prefer AWS, and another 29 percent opt for GCP. This data highlights Azure's expanding influence and market presence, presenting opportunities for Microsoft Azure partners to benefit from its growing ecosystem.

Public Cloud Provider Adoption Rates: The report shows a significant increase in the adoption rates of Microsoft Azure, indicating a rising preference for Azure's competitive features and offerings. Azure's adoption rate jumped to 80 percent, surpassing the average of 50 percent, with AWS following closely at 78 percent. This marks the first time a single cloud provider, Azure, has reached an adoption rate of 80 percent.

Top Cloud Provider Discounts Used by Partners: Organizations struggle to control growing cloud spending and may organizations look to provider discounts to reduce costs. Microsoft Azure stands out as one of the most favored choices. Most respondents (45%) are taking advantage of the Azure Enterprise Agreement discount. Understanding these discount structures and incentives provided by Microsoft can empower partners to maximize cost savings and effectively deliver added value to their clients.

Number of Virtual Machines (VMs) Being Used: AWS and Microsoft Azure continue to be the most widely used cloud platforms. Specifically, they lead among the larger footprint sizes exceeding 500 instances. This underscores the scalability and adaptability of Azure's infrastructure, offering partners opportunities to tailor solutions that meet organizations' growing VM deployment requirements.

The findings from the 2024 Flexera State of the Cloud Report emphasize the significance of making thoughtful decisions when embracing multi-cloud adoption, managing expenses efficiently, and navigating challenges. Partners strategically utilizing these insights can set themselves up for success in the competitive cloud environment.

Explore Microsoft Azure for partners to gain a deeper understanding of both current and future cloud technology landscapes. Discover how Azure is designed to empower partners to grow, surpass customer needs, and unleash boundless creativity.