Although the data is specific to one cloud software ecosystem, the numbers and projections reflect the future of work and business.
In its fifth major study commissioned for Salesforce since a decade ago, IDC has used biweekly surveys and monthly adjustments to its market forecasts to come up with findings about the growth of cloud software and the impact on jobs and business revenues.
For the Asia Pacific region (APAC) cloud-related technologies are expected to account for 18% of digital transformation IT spending this year, growing to 29% in 2026, as businesses focus on establishing their digital HQs to deliver customer and employee success from anywhere.
Other generic regional findings are as follows:
- By 2026, the top three categories with the most expected direct job gainsare:
- General trades, production, transportation workers (515,440)
- Office and administrative support occupations (239,490)
- Healthcare practitioners (160,940)
- The top three categories with the most expected direct specialty job gains by 2026 are:
- IoT trades (133,020)
- Health technologists: digital specialties (34,220)
- Privacy and compliance (25,530)
- Across APAC, the proportion of direct jobs that require functional skills (e.g., certification, schooling, or extensive on-the-job training) is projected to see only slight changes (~1%) or remain the same between 2020 and 2026. However, the proportion that requires digital skills (e.g., learning new collaboration tools, creating chatbots, working with new AI-assisted programs) are expected to significantly increase from 2x% to 3x%. The specific percentages (of each APAC market) can be found in the charts below.
Charted data
Note: The study data is specific to Salesforce ecosystems only.
