Member Article

Businesses are not making full use of cloud

A survey of over 350 IT decision makers has revealed that 80 per cent do not believe their companies are making full use of the cloud technologies available to them.

Enterprises with over 1,000 employees are falling behind their smaller competitors, with 85 per cent of IT professionals surveyed from these businesses admitting they do not exploit the full benefits of the cloud. Companies with less than 250 employees rank slightly better but the results still show 78 per cent of these IT professionals do not believe they are making full use of the cloud.

Commissioned by Cloudstanding.co.uk, a platform which educates and helps businesses adopt cloud technologies, the research was conducted with IT professionals, managers and C-suite executives in the UK, across a variety of sectors, ranging from SMEs to enterprises with 5000+ employees.

This lack of application when it comes to cloud technologies may be because 40 per cent of the CEOs and Managing Directors surveyed were unsure which type of cloud their business is using.

Maarten ten Broeke, Cloudstanding co-founder says: “Cloud technology can unshackle workforces when it comes to collaborative work and productivity. However, the shift to the cloud has taken place at such a rapid pace and not all stakeholders have taken the time to look at the different options available.”

The survey also revealed 55 per cent of business decision makers were concerned with the idea of data protection when using cloud technologies. In comparison, 44 per cent of IT professionals, made up of IT managers or those working directly with the technology, said that deployment was their biggest worry when it comes to the cloud.

ten Broeke continues: “In some cases, executives at the very highest level within an organisation are in the dark as to how cloud is being used within their business. They are simply not aware of the technology that has the potential to transition their company from a legacy-driven business into a more efficient and cohesive entity, running on the cloud. This is in contrast to the savvy IT professional on the front line who is very much aware of the cloud and its potential.

“Further education and access to expert industry insight is essential in order to allow these senior IT decision makers to discover the different options and make best use of this exciting technology.”

The survey discovered that IT decision makers are attracted to the flexibility (56 per cent) and scalability (43 per cent) offered by the cloud technologies but state that deployment (40 per cent) and complexity (37 per cent) represent just some of the concerns that they have about using the technology.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Richard Went .