Understanding of Cloud computing in SMEs overestimated
New research backed by GFI Software shows surprisingly high proportion of senior business decision-makers and IT professionals still unclear about Cloud Computing
Key perception that low cost will be prime selling point & security threat will be big weakness not backed up by research.
Research highlights
• The degree of understanding of cloud computing terminology is understandably considerably lower in the business sector than in the IT security sector – 62% of senior business decision-makers have never heard of cloud computing – but as many as 24% of IT professionals have never heard of cloud computing or do not understand the term.
• In contrast, only 15% and 11% of senior business decision-makers have not heard of managed services and hosted services respectively. Given these terms are practically synonymous with Cloud Computing conceptually, it would appear there is too much emphasis on jargon, and not enough on the basic components of cloud-based services.
• 86% of companies of 100-249 staff have deployed or are currently deploying Cloud Computing technology, but only 69% of companies of 10-99 employees and 39% of companies with under 10 employees have done or are doing so.
• Security – widely seen by the IT industry as the main barrier to adoption – is indeed the second highest perceived disadvantage of cloud computing, yet only 12% of respondents who have actively elected not to pursue this model cite security as the main reason for not doing so, showing a clear disparity between perception and reality.
• Similarly, 44% of those companies that have decided not to deploy cloud computing cite too high cost as the main reason, yet low cost is also seen as the second highest perceived advantage of the new model
• 43% of respondents who have chosen not to deploy Cloud Computing would reconsider if the vendors' terms and pricing were improved while 40% would reconsider if contracts were less restrictive.
• There is a growing resistance to the on-premise and hosted polarisation. SMEs are increasingly embracing a hybrid model that mixes and matches services to reflect business needs and existing IT skills/infrastructure.
