Europe is sleepwalking into an excellent deeper dependency on Microsoft’s cloud applied sciences. That’s the conclusion being drawn following the publication of a report into public sector utilization of productiveness software program throughout the European Union (EU).
It was compiled by financial consultancy agency Compass Lexecon and commissioned by pro-cloud market competitors advocacy group the Open Cloud Coalition (OCC).
The purpose of the train was to find out the extent to which public sector organisations within the EU are depending on the productiveness software program choices of particular suppliers.
To realize this, the report’s authors mixed market share knowledge from Statista and procurement particulars from the Ted Digital Each day (TED) useful resource with companion ecosystem data from different publicly obtainable sources.
It concluded that Microsoft is the productiveness software program market chief, with an estimated general market share of 77% at EU degree, rising to probably 80% at nation degree.
“Microsoft’s lead turns into much more pronounced within the narrower segments the place it’s lively,” the report continued. “Within the collaboration phase, Microsoft’s shares might be as much as 84% on the EU degree and 80-86% at nation degree. Within the workplace phase, Microsoft’s shares might be as much as 90% on the EU degree and 86% to 92% at nation degree.”
From a public sector market adoption perspective, the report recognized sure options of how software program procurements are undertaken which might be serving to strengthen and encourage the continued development of Microsoft’s maintain on the sector.
Europe is at present sleepwalking into deeper dependency. Wholesome and revolutionary markets want competitors and honest procurement practices. With out change, Europe will proceed being held again, and the price to innovation and resilience can be excessive Nicky Stewart, Open Cloud Coalition
That is based mostly on an evaluation of 189 tenders uploaded in TED that point out Microsoft. This evaluation revealed that Microsoft is cited much more incessantly than another provider, with an incidence share of 72% to 91% in 2023 and 89% to 100% in 2024.
“Our assessment means that sure options of the tenders, equivalent to repeat use by current prospects, compatibility necessities, and bundling with different services and products, could contribute to Microsoft’s excessive shares and ongoing dependency,” the report acknowledged.
Based on the OCC, the findings underscore the dominant maintain Microsoft has on the EU’s productiveness software program market and lift considerations concerning the long-term affect this may occasionally have on innovation and the adoption of synthetic intelligence (AI).
Nicky Stewart, senior advisor to the OCC, stated that, with none type of intervention, it’s doubtless Microsoft’s maintain on the EU will tighten additional.
“Europe is at present sleepwalking into deeper dependency. Wholesome and revolutionary markets want competitors and honest procurement practices,” stated Stewart. “With out change, Europe will proceed being held again, and the price to innovation and resilience can be excessive.”
The report makes its debut at a time when Microsoft’s cloud market dominance is coming underneath scrutiny from regulators and commerce our bodies.
Within the UK, the Competitors and Markets Authority (CMA) is on the cusp of asserting the outcomes of its long-running investigation into the inside workings of the UK cloud infrastructure companies market, because the regulator has till 4 August to publish its findings.
Interim findings from the CMA have seen Microsoft – and its cloud rival Amazon Internet Providers (AWS) – known as out for anti-competitive behaviour, pertaining primarily to the software program big’s follow of charging customers extra for operating its cloud software program in competing environments.
