In 2012, KPMG was commissioned by the Australian Information Industry Association, and sponsored by a host of cloud-computing providers, to come up with an estimate of the benefits cloud could bring to Australia’s GDP.

The study found that adoption of cloud services across 75 percent of relevant ICT (information and communication technology) spending would, after 10 years, result in an increase in long-run GDP of $3.32 billion per year in Australia.  At 50 percent adoption, it would be a $2.16 billion per year GDP gain.

Australia is a good use case for cloud computing, given the smaller economy, and thus faster-time-to-benefit that cloud computing can bring.  If they succeed on a smaller scale, then succeeding on a larger scale in other countries is likely as well.

The results of the study are something that other countries are reviewing, and they are also likely to see an ROI well before the larger countries get their cloud act together.  Larger countries should build on the success of smaller countries, but study what went right and what went wrong.