Documents are buzzing in the aerospace and defense sectors: a 58% drop in mentions of cloud computing in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Mentions of cloud computing in the documents of companies in the aerospace and defense sector fell by 58% between the third and fourth quarters of 2021.

Overall, the frequency of convictions related to cloud computing in 2021 was 168% higher than in 2016, when GlobalData, from which we took our data for this article, first began tracking key problems mentioned in company documents.

When companies in the aerospace and defense sectors publish annual and quarterly reports, ESG reports and other documents, GlobalData analyzes the text and identifies individual sentences that refer to the destructive forces that companies face in the coming years. Cloud computing is one of these topics – companies that stand out and invest in these areas are considered to be better prepared for the future business landscape and better equipped to survive unforeseen challenges.

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Two measures have been calculated to assess whether cloud computing is more integrated into the aggregates and strategies of aerospace and defense companies. First, we looked at the percentage of companies that mentioned cloud computing at least once in their applications in the last twelve months – that’s 70% compared to 29% in 2016. Second, we calculated the percentage of total sentences analyzed that refer to cloud computing .

Of the 20 largest employers in the aerospace and defense sectors, Leonardo was the company that relied on cloud computing the most in 2021. GlobalData identified 25 sentences related to the cloud in the documents of the Italian-based company – 0.4 % of all sentences. Thales mentions cloud computing in second place – the problem is mentioned in 0.3% of the sentences in the company’s documents. Other leading employers with high cloud references include General Dynamics, Leidos and BAE.

This analysis gives an approximate indication of which companies are focusing on cloud computing and how important the issue is in the aerospace and defense sector, but there are also limitations that need to be interpreted carefully. For example, a company that mentions cloud computing more regularly is not necessarily evidence that it is using new techniques or prioritizing the problem, nor does it indicate whether the company’s cloud computing endeavors have been successful or unsuccessful.

In the last quarter, aerospace and defense companies based in Western Europe are likely to have mentioned cloud computing with 0.12% of the sentences in company documents relating to the problem. In contrast, companies based in the United States mention cloud computing in only 0.04% of sentences.