Microsoft Azure is growing by leaps and bounds, with at least one analyst predicting it will eclipse Office by 2022.
Microsoft’s cloud platform has been on a tear, outpacing the industry’s growth and contributing to the company’s most recent stellar quarter. Despite being in second place behind AWS, Azure already makes up a larger portion of Microsoft’s business than its venerable Windows family of products.
According to CNBC, Piper Sandler analyst Brent Bracelin has said Azure is well on its way to eclipsing Microsoft Office, becoming the single biggest source of revenue for the company. Azure has already surpassed Office 365, but should surpass 365 and traditional licenses combined in 2022.
“We have quarterly Azure revenue of $11.8B by June 2022 (eclipsing Office all-in revenue of $10.9B for the first time),” Bracelin told CNBC in an email on Wednesday.
Azure’s growth — growing importance — is a validation of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s strategy. Since taking the helm, Nadella has changed the entire focus of the company. Microsoft was once known for vigorously protecting its Windows and Office platforms. Under Nadella, however, Microsoft has become far more open, working to provide its software on virtually all the major platforms. Nadella’s goal has been to provide the best experience…regardless of a person or organization’s platform of choice. A big part of that strategy has been Microsoft’s emphasis on Azure.
In view of Azure’s growth, it’s clear Nadella knew exactly what he was doing when he helped Microsoft pivot to the cloud.
