This article appeared in Cybersecurity Law & Strategy, an ALM publication for privacy and security professionals, Chief Information Security Officers, Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Corporate Counsel, Internet and Tech Practitioners, In-House Counsel. Visit the website to learn more.

As you're reading this article, likely, you're not the only one online in your home right now. Children taking lessons, spouses working remotely, maybe an in-law or two surfing the Web for holiday presents … COVID-19 is undoubtedly one of the greatest disruptors the world has ever experienced and it has not-surprisingly caused numerous business challenges. However, not every organization has been impacted equally. Take cloud providers, for example.

The demand for everything "cloud" has been driven by the massive, and dramatic, shift to a remote-first workforce caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cloud spending rose a massive 37%, over the same time last year, to $29 billion during the first quarter of 2020. The silver lining for cloud providers is that spending is expected to continue throughout the end of the year, even as other IT spending likely contracts. According to Gartner, it's estimated that cloud spending will increase by 19% for the full year. See, Katie Costello and Meghan Rimol, "Gartner Says Global IT Spending to Decline 8% in 2020 Due to Impact of COVID-19," May 13, 2022.