Research conducted amongst European CIOs and senior IT decision-makers across 13 European countries by leading research firm Portio in behalf of Colt has found that 68 per cent of respondents say security fears prevent them from adopting cloud computing services. This concern was especially high in the UK with 74 per cent of UK CIO’s highlighting security as the factor they consider to be the main barrier to cloud services adoption.
The Colt report also found that performance and the reliability of cloud computing services was seen as a concern (58 per cent), while 47 per cent noted that a lack of transparency over pricing models may be halting the adoption of cloud services.
The main driver accelerating the adoption of cloud services is the need to access data and systems from any location, while factors such as risk mitigation (62 per cent) and innovation (57 per cent) were also seen to be important business issues. Half of respondents (50 per cent) claim that e-mail hosting and the ability to back up critical data is the most used / evaluated service facilitated by cloud computing. A further 40 per cent indicated the ability to access payroll and finance applications along with desktop applications as the key benefit of using cloud computing services.
Even though cloud computing is still in its infancy, the main benefits appear widely understood: 48 per cent of CIOs surveyed said that they believe the main benefit of cloud comuting services is to reduce costs. 21 per cent believe the main objective is that companies do not need to own their datacentres, while 19 per cent understand it to be a service which helps companies scale up to meet their business goals.
In the UK, nearly 50 per cent of CIOs and their peers confirmed that they are currently using or evaluating E-Mail hosting and desktop applications. Notably, 80per cent of respondents said that quality assurance from cloud providers will drive the adoption of cloud computing services. 65 per cent of respondents expect 21-60 per cent of their IT portfolio to move to cloud services within the next 12 months.
Maggy McClelland, Managing Director, Colt Managed Services: “This research has indentified security as the main concern for CIOs considering cloud computing services. Many customers are looking for a closer and transparent relationship with cloud vendors in risk mitigation. Customers are rightly concerned that when using cloud services they still own their data and are responsible for it. It falls to cloud service providers to ensure their customers are confident and knowledgeable about cloud computing services, security and data ownership. More transparency and a joint dialogue with customers will play a significant role in addressing the real concerns over the security, performance and reliability of cloud computing and this is essential if the industry is to evolve with credibility.”
As part of this dialogue Colt welcomes the recent publication from the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) titled ‘Cloud Computing: Benefits, risks and recommendations for information security’. According to Colt it provides detailed, practical guidance and recommendations on how to approach the information security benefits and risks of cloud computing. (Source: Colt/GST)