The results of a study carried out by Microsoft, in conjunction with IDC, show that a potential 14 million jobs worldwide could be created by 2015 as a direct result of spending on public and private cloud IT services. This is in addition to a saving of $1.1 trillion a year.

According to Microsoft, the new jobs will be shared between SMEs of 500 employees or fewer and larger businesses, with the SMEs narrowly taking the majority. The report states that just under half (6.75 million) of the 14 million new jobs are expected to be held in China and India, as companies in this region will not suffer from “legacy drag” and because of the extensive workforce available. John Gantz, senior vice president at IDC supported the claims of the report by saying: "we tend to think of China and India as emerging markets, but they're actually early adopters of the cloud. They're not bound to existing systems. They've skipped that step, so there's less holding them back."

IDC calculated the number of cloud-generated jobs by weighing several factors, including available country workforce, unemployment rates, GDP, IT spend by industry and company size, industry mix by country and city, technology infrastructure by country and city, regulatory environment, and other factors.

The impact of this study could prove to be instrumental in transforming customers’ attitude towards cloud computing for their businesses, and cementing it as not only a viable option but a necessary element to fuel growth for businesses.