Cloud computing is having positive effects far and wide, with new figures that show effective use of cloud strategies could create as many as 8,600 jobs in Ireland. In addition, the cloud has the potential to reach $12.2 billion in revenues, according to business analysts at a recent Irish Management Institute (IMI) event in Dublin.

More effective use of cloud computing would significantly benefit the Irish economy, creating new recurring income streams, shrinking the time required to implement change, and keeping expansion company costs down, according to Dr. Fergal Carton, program director of the IMI Diploma in Cloud Strategy, a joint venture between IMI, UCC and Microsoft (News - Alert). The collaboration focuses on the identification of strategic opportunities arising out of cloud-based business models.

“Budgetary pressures don’t mean innovation has to be sidelined. On the contrary, the cloud offers opportunities for Irish organizations to implement change quickly, economically and with minimal risk,” Carton said, according to the Irish Examiner.

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Last year, Microsoft published commissioned research from analyst firm IDC (News - Alert) indicating that cloud computing will create nearly 14 million new jobs globally by 2015 – including over two million in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“The cloud is going to have a huge impact on job creation,” said Susan Hauser, Microsoft corporate vice president of the Worldwide Enterprise and Partner Group. “It’s a transformative technology that will drive down costs, spur innovation, and open up new jobs and skill sets across the globe.”

As more organizations move data to virtual servers, cloud computing has been a growing skill needed by employers hiring talent to develop, manage and secure information online.

Cloud is also having a positive impact in other regions of the world as well. A recent report from Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert), which examined the state of the cloud computing market in Brazil, found the country is picking up momentum in cloud deployments, TMCnet reported.

Brazil seems to have very similar priorities as the rest of the world when it comes to the cloud, though, as IT infrastructure seems to be the No.1 driver of the country’s cloud market, while a survey of companies in Brazil also suggests that trends including BYOD, mobility and big data will also play major roles in the near future. Indeed, the area in which Brazil’s cloud market seems to differ the most from others is adoption. However, it appears uptake is on the rise, as half of the companies surveyed reported having plans for the remainder of 2013 to increase their cloud computing budget.