A 2013 infographic by Aryaka, containing results based on a survey carried out by Rightscale, shows that cloud adoption is no longer in question. For many companies, moving business processes to the cloud has become one of the best moves that they have made and the survey reflected this, showing that those who were early cloud adopters are now delving even deeper into the technology.
This isn’t any real surprise, as the cloud offers plenty of benefits to businesses both large and small. Whilst initial adoption was mostly seen in SaaS services, now we’re seeing an increasing in companies using IaaS.
The Rightscale survey found that 17% of those asked were starting to adopt cloud and develop pre-cloud deployment strategies. 26% were increasing investments into new cloud projects and just 8% of the 625 companies asked said that it’s now just a matter of time before they adopt the cloud.
Security Still a Worry for Many Firms
Amongst barriers to adoption, by far the most worrying for those asked was again security. Whilst there’s been a lot written around security, for many companies the thought of allowing data to be stored off premises is simply one step too far, despite evidence that shows many companies still don’t have an effective back up or disaster recovery plan in place.
Depending on the vendor chosen cloud remains the safer option, despite the ongoing concerns surrounding cloud storage. Data centres tend to have more robust procedures and in the event of hardware failure, data can easily be routed to another part of the network. Data centres also tend to be manned and to have good, well thought out disaster recovery plans in place.
The cloud also enables better finances, not least because of its ‘pay as you go’ nature. The reduced need for capital expenditure and the ability to give flexibility to employees is invaluable for many firms.
As we move further into 2014, it’s likely that we’ll start to see even more confidence in the cloud though. We have the proof now that many companies have adopted the cloud that it’s safe and so confidence is naturally improving. Cloud is no longer ‘just a buzzword’, it’s a tried and tested business model that’s enabling many companies the opportunity to become more scalable, agile and productive.
Have you moved to the cloud yet?
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