Europe ‘sleepwalking’ into deeper dependency on Microsoft cloud technologies, claims OCC

Europe is sleepwalking into an even deeper dependency on Microsoft’s cloud technologies. That is the conclusion being drawn following the publication of a report into public sector usage of productivity software across the European Union (EU).

The 36-page Quantifying EU public sector dependence on productivity software report set out to examine the use of productivity software across the EU and selected member states.

It was compiled by economic consultancy firm Compass Lexecon and commissioned by pro-cloud market competition advocacy group the Open Cloud Coalition (OCC).

The point of the exercise was to determine the extent to which public sector organisations in the EU are dependent on the productivity software offerings of specific suppliers.

To achieve this, the report’s authors combined market share data from Statista and procurement details from the Ted Electronic Daily (TED) resource with partner ecosystem information from other publicly available sources.

It concluded that Microsoft is the productivity software market leader, with an estimated overall market share of 77% at EU level, rising to potentially 80% at country level.

“Microsoft’s lead becomes even more pronounced in the narrower segments where it is active,” the report continued. “In the collaboration segment, Microsoft’s shares could be up to 84% at the EU level and 80-86% at country level. In the office segment, Microsoft’s shares could be up to 90% at the EU level and 86% to 92% at country level.”

From a public sector market adoption perspective, the report identified certain features of how software procurements are undertaken that are serving to reinforce and encourage the continued growth of Microsoft’s hold on the sector.

Europe is currently sleepwalking into deeper dependency. Healthy and innovative markets need competition and fair procurement practices. Without change, Europe will continue being held back, and the cost to innovation and resilience will be high