Thailand's spending on public cloud services will continue to gather steam in 2017, with the market estimated to be worth US$221 million (7.73 billion baht), says global research firm IDC.
A recent notification by the Bank of Thailand allowing the use of cloud in IT outsourcing services for the banking and financial sectors is expected to give a further boost to the adoption of public cloud computing, said Jarit Sidhu, research manager of IDC Asia Pacific.
"2017 can expect to see more growth than ever before, up from $169 million in 2016 and $127 million in 2015," he said.
The Financial and banking sectors lead IT spending in Thailand.
The compound annual average growth rate of the cloud market in Thailand would be 25% during 2015-20, said Mr Jarit.
Morragot Kulatumyotin, managing director of SET-listed Internet Thailand (Inet), said the central bank's notification will boost confidence and security among financial institutions to adopt public cloud in providing common financial services.
Cloud can help businesses reduce costs, maximise the utilisation of IT resources and speed their products or services to market.
Inet saw a surge in its revenue from cloud-based services, generating half of its total revenue in 2016. The company just opened its third data centre in Saraburi province to serve the growing demand for cloud services, said Ms Morragot.
Voradis Vinyaratn, executive director and acting managing director of T.C.C. Technology, a local data centre provider under the TCC Group, said it is now time for businesses moving to the cloud to increase efficiency and reduce operating costs in the rapidly changing digital era.
He said banks and financial institutions are just beginning to adopt cloud technology as they are concerned about the security of their sensitive information.
T.C.C. Technology is spending over 300 million baht expanding the capacity of its data centre in Bang Na district. The expansion work is expected to be completed by June this year. Its customers include digital service and content providers, banks, insurance companies, energy firms and media groups.