Microsoft Azure revenue hit $23 billion in Q3 2022, representing a 32% year-over-year increase ahead of expectations. And CEO Satya Nadella is confident that his company's position to enable digital transformations will continue fueling that growth.

"I don't hear businesses looking to their IT budgets or digital transformation projects as the place for cuts," Nadella said during Microsoft's third-quarter earnings call. It's more likely that these projects are going to accelerate companies' digital transformations and increase demand for the cloud giant's services, he explained.

"For example, I have not seen this level of demand for automation technology to improve productivity. Because in an inflationary environment, the only deflationary force is software," Nadella touted.

Tech spend is expected to double by 2030, according to Nadella. Pair that with the competitiveness of the Microsoft's tech stack, from infrastructure all the way to SaaS applications and the company's ability to monetize the installed base of its consumer franchises, for example, and "we have price leadership," Nadella said.

"Where you have more value for less price means you win. In our case, when it comes to our commercial cloud offerings, we have significant advantages on that across the stack," he explained.

Microsoft reported its total quarter revenue grew 18% year-over-year to reach $49.4 billion. Azure and other cloud services grew 46% year-over-year, driven by "continued strength in consumption-based services," EVP and CFO Amy Hood said during the call.

As a show of Azure's popularity, Nadella name-dropped Boeing, Kraft, Heinz, U.S. Bank, BlackRock, and others as Microsoft cloud customers, citing these as "larger, more strategic Azure commitments from industry leaders."

Hood also noted that Microsoft saw better than expected growth in those long term Azure contracts "against a very strong prior year comparable."

In addition, Microsoft reported intelligent cloud segment revenue of $19.1 billion, representing a 26% year-over-year increase. The provider claims its six industry-specific cloud offerings "are helping customers speed time-to-value," Nadella said, referencing Cleveland Clinic's use of Azure's health data services to unify disparate clinical imaging and med-tech data.

Despite growing talk of the importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) in financial reporting and investing, Microsoft did not include any information relating to its sustainability commitments or its measured impacts on the planet during the earnings presentation.

Investors also ignored Microsoft's sustainability efforts, focusing on other topics such as supply chain constraints during the Q&A portion of the call.