Ian Jansen van Rensburg, VMware. Photo: Karolina Komendera

The rise of the public cloud providers has been a story of massive growth, but is that now coming to an end?

Both Microsoft and Amazon reported slowing cloud growth in earnings calls last year. Azure revenues grew by 35%, which was lower than the company’s original prediction for the quarter by 1%. Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said that Azure will again slow down this quarter, and predicted a 5% decline in growth. CEO Satya Nadella said in October that the company was now focusing on improving customer loyalty. “In this environment, we’re focused on helping our customers do more with less, while investing in secular growth areas and managing our cost structure in a disciplined way,” he said.