Microsoft Azure is inching closer to market leader Amazon Web Services (AWS) as more enterprises prefer to use public cloud platforms. Azure cloud adoption grew by 14 percent, the biggest increase among all the key cloud players including Amazon. As more enterprises embrace the multi-cloud strategy, competition among vendors will bring more and better cloud services to customers.

A survey was conducted and compiled by RightScale, a cloud management company, to look at the preferences of enterprises when it comes to cloud usage. The 2017 State of the Cloud Report has shown that Microsoft Azure is rapidly rising along with Google Cloud while AWS shows steady growth. More than a thousand IT professionals participated in the survey that shows Azure cloud adoption rising from 20 percent last year to 34 percent for this year.

Google Cloud also posted growth by 5 percent for 2017 from 10 to 15 percent. AWS still holds the number one spot with usage posting a steady 57 percent year-over-year. Other players include IBM from 7 to 8 percent and Oracle falling from 4 down to 3 percent. The trend reveals a substantial growth particularly for Microsoft Azure as more business users look to public cloud adoption for their various needs.

The RightScale report also reveals that Microsoft Azure is the preferred cloud vendor by bigger enterprise customers. Azure cloud adoption rose from 26 to 43 percent. This may be partly due to the fact that Microsoft has well established its Windows and Office products and continues to push for Azure adoption alongside it. The multi-cloud trend among various organizations is also advantageous to Azure, which can still gain a bigger foothold in the cloud even if AWS holds steady, ZDNet reported.

Public cloud like Microsoft Azure is gaining popularity among enterprises because it is inexpensive. A multi-cloud strategy is also beneficial because every cloud service differs from another so the benefits can be extensive when using more than just one cloud platform. The competition among cloud vendors often results in better services, cheaper prices, and more benefits. This is why most enterprises often have four cloud services to suit their varying needs.

Moreover, more users are now cloud-savvy, unlike before where carelessness results in big cloud usage waste. Some developers can easily launch a cloud service to do some computing and forget to turn it off. In other cases, a team of developers may be using one without the knowledge of the IT team so the cost could go sky high. The RightScale report shows that users are now more cost aware with 53 percent of respondents prioritizing cost optimization, according to Fortune.

Microsoft Azure may see big leaps in the years to come as Microsoft continues to beef up its cloud services as competition gets more intense. The new Azure AD SQL Database Threat Detection product is expected to be released in April. The product uses machine learning to monitor suspicious activities in the database. Moreover, the Azure IP Advantage offers customers access to Microsoft's huge patent portfolio as protection from patent trolls.