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A third of global companies already on the 'cloud' – survey

Tony Chan | February 25, 2009 | 0 Comments

A new survey commissioned by IT consultancy, Avanade, has found that cloud computing is now a reality for a large portion of companies worldwide. The survey, conducted by Kelton Research, is based on interviews with 502 C-level executives and IT decision makers across 17 countries in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

The findings showed that a third of companies worldwide are already using some form of cloud computing technology (37% for Canadian companies), with many identifying solid business benefits from the technology platform despite ongoing security concerns.

Kaytek Przybylski, Capability Director with Avanade Canada, said: “This global study reveals that business and IT leaders recognize the business benefits of cloud computing for making a meaningful difference in their organizations and it’s very encouraging to see that Canadian firms are ahead of the curve when it comes to cloud familiarity and usage. Nevertheless, international concerns about security and control of data are limiting its broad adoption. One of the pressing issues that lies before our industry is addressing these perceived barriers and helping businesses in Canada and abroad to develop a strategy for deploying cloud-based services today and build a long-term roadmap to capitalize on the business value of cloud computing in the future.”

Some of the core findings of the survey are:

By a 5-to-1 ratio, executives report that they trust existing internal systems over cloud-based systems due to fear about security threats and loss of control of data and systems.

At the same time, the majority of respondents reported that their current internal systems are too expensive.

Meanwhile, early adopters of cloud computing report they are increasing their investments in this technology after seeing reduced up-front IT costs and improved agility to respond quickly to market conditions.

Some of those business benefits are identified as:

Respondents recognize that cloud computing allows companies to:
– Focus on the core business (65 per cent).
– React more quickly to market conditions (62 per cent).
– Gain access to the latest technologies (51 per cent).
– Improve ability to be flexible (70 per cent).

Nearly one-third of companies currently using cloud-based systems have increased their use of cloud computing in today’s economy after seeing the benefits it can bring.

Not only do companies agree that cloud computing has lower up-front IT costs, but respondents also indicated that cloud computing is the best option for ensuring lower ongoing costs (operational expenses).

The results of the survey also found that companies are also struggling with change and how to increase productivity with few resources:

More than 50 per cent of companies surveyed use technologies to cut costs. And, half of all respondents say they adopt new technologies to save money.

C-level executives and IT decision makers overwhelmingly agree that cloud computing is a real technology option (71 per cent worldwide).

Furthermore, nearly two in three IT executives worldwide (65 per cent) and four of five in Canada (80 per cent) believe cloud computing reduces up-front costs.

Four out of five respondents report that existing internal IT systems are too expensive.

While nearly half of companies consider themselves early adopters of new technologies, the majority of companies (61 per cent worldwide) are not using cloud computing systems at this time.

More than 80 per cent of those who use only internally owned IT systems do not plan on integrating any form of cloud computing in the next 12 months.