After Microsoft, SAP Sings the Cloudy Jobs Song

Just a few days ago, software company Microsoft published commissioned research from analyst firm IDC indicating that cloud computing will create nearly 14 million new jobs globally by 2015.

In a similar fashion, now rival SAP is quoting its commissioned study to say that cloud computing will create more jobs. The difference between the two companies’ assertions is that SAP estimates in thousands while Microsoft counted in millions – perhaps because of difference in corporate sizes of these two cloud players.

Here’s what SAP says: Cloud computing is a powerful catalyst for job creation and has greater potential for employment growth than the Internet did in its early years, according to a new study by the market researcher Sand Hill Group, sponsored by SAP America, Inc., a subsidiary of SAP AG (NYSE: SAP). It was stated today, March 14.

[ Also Read: Ali Shadman Reveals the Secrets of Cloud Computing ]

The study, titled “Job Growth in the Forecast: How Cloud Computing is Generating New Business Opportunities and Fueling Job Growth in the United States,” looked at several ways cloud computing may create jobs, and found:

• Eleven cloud computing companies added 80,000 jobs in the United States in 2010, and the employment growth rate at these organizations was almost five times than that of the high-tech sector overall.
• Companies selling cloud services are projected to grow revenues by an average of US$20 billion per year for the next five years, which has the potential to generate as many as 472,000 jobs in the U.S. and abroad in the next five years.
• Venture capital investments in cloud opportunities are projected to be US$30 billion in the next five years, which could add another 213,000 new jobs in the U.S.
• The economic impact for companies buying cloud services can be even more significant. Cloud computing could save U.S. businesses as much as US$625 billion over five years, much of which could be reinvested to create new business opportunities and additional jobs.

If you carefully read the above SAP findings, you’ll realize that all of them are full of ambiguity and just conjectures for distant future.

That’s why RMN Digital says that vendors like SAP and Microsoft pay for getting such reports done from researchers mostly to create hype around the products or services that they offer.

Thus, they try to falsely influence the buyers. So, buyers should not take findings from such reports seriously. Moreover, in the fast-changing tech markets, it’s just not possible to correctly predict anything for a distant future – like for 2015 or beyond. Can you?

SAP, however, has tried to create more confusion by throwing a bagful of tech terms in support of its study. So, its study says three industry megatrends are propelling the growth of cloud services and employment: the boom in mobile computing devices such as smartphones and tablets; the “social” trend in online services; and the growth of “Big Data” flows that require more data management services.

Further, government policies and purchasing decisions at all levels will also have a major influence on cloud adoption and job growth, SAP continues.

[ Also Read: Will Cloud Computing Redefine Business Models? ]

“The study confirms that cloud computing can have a significant impact at every key growth stage of the business lifecycle – from launching a startup to expanding a business to managing a multi-national enterprise,” said Jacqueline Vanacek, vice president and cloud computing evangelist at SAP. “Business growth leads to jobs, and cloud computing will accelerate this in certain industries.”

Understandably; because SAP has a slew of cloud offerings, including line-of-business on-demand solutions for sales, travel and sourcing, along with a cloud suite and applications for collaboration and analytics.

Given these facts, such sales efforts under the garb of commissioned reports are justified. What you say?