An analysis by Credit Suisse claims that Microsoft’s Azure cloud service is the fastest growing cloud platform, and will beat current market expectations.

The research report claims that Microsoft is growing its Azure business “faster and bigger” than industry and financial market analysts have estimated. According to the report, not only is Microsoft Azure increasing its lead over Google Cloud, the third largest cloud provider, but Azure is also catching up with the current market leader, AWS.

In the March quarter, AWS achieved revenue of $18.4 billion. This was an increase of 37 percent over the year. Microsoft Azure scored $11.3 billion in revenue for the same quarter. This represented growth of 46 percent.

According to the Credit Suisse research report, the shift is not just due to greater market success on the part of Microsoft, but is due to a structural change in the cloud market.

The report claims that companies are changing the way they view the cloud, shifting to a strategic approach that embraces multiple technologies and technologies as well the digital transformation of business operations.

The initial shift to the cloud was driven by cost, with the focus on moving existing applications and restructuring IT operations and cost overheads, according to the Credit Suisse report.

Now, organisations are looking towards the cloud to develop new business capabilities, such as IoT and AI; integrate disparate operational areas such as IT, manufacturing, premise, and other OT-based data; and to achieve digital transformation as well as take advantage of new technologies such as Lo/No Code.

The report believes that Microsoft is benefiting from this shift, and will increase growth as more organisations adopt the trend.