Most Philippine firms seen ‘in the cloud’ by 2025

MANILA, Philippines — Majority of local firms will migrate all of their operations to the cloud in two years to maximize the benefit from the growing adoption of digital services in the Philippines.

In a survey commissioned by Alibaba Cloud, it showed that 85 percent of Philippine enterprises said they plan to make a full-scale transition to the cloud by 2025.

Further, the survey said nine in every 10 firms in the country will raise their investments on digital solutions to keep up with consumers who now prefer to transact online.

According to the survey, the drive to shift to cloud was propelled by the growth of data centers in the Philippines. Data centers serve as storage sites for applications and information managed by tech giants like Amazon, Google and Meta.

Consultancy giant Arizton Advisory and Intelligence values the data center market in the country at $298 million as of 2021. Arizton believes it will grow by an average of 13 percent to hit $635 million by 2027.

Likewise, firms trust that they have everything to gain moving forward given that the Philippine government itself is pushing for digital migration.

On the other hand, the survey said 85 percent of Philippine firms assess the level of security of the cloud services they are procuring given the resurgence in digital fraud.

Alibaba Cloud observed a similar trend among Southeast Asian countries, with 82 percent in Indonesia and 78 percent in Malaysia prioritizing security as well.

Aside from this, the survey said Philippine firms value availability and expertise when they purchase cloud solutions for their operations. Almost all of them favor cloud suppliers that focus on the sustainability of their products and services.

Alibaba Cloud Intelligence country manager for the Philippines Allen Guo said the firm plans to partner with local firms for the use of its computing solutions. Alibaba Cloud offers a number of cloud services that can optimize business flow.

“As we anticipate a rise in cloud adoption, (we are)
committed to offering innovative and proven cloud solutions and services to Philippine businesses,” Guo said.

The survey collected the insights of more than 1,000 firms across eight Asian markets, including in the Philippines, where respondents mostly came from the banking, gaming, manufacturing and telco industries.