TEMPE, AZ – Insight releases the results of a study of corporate IT department attitudes toward cloud based computing. The study showed most businesses are moving toward the cloud for efficiencies, but still lack trust in cloud security. The research, conducted in July 2014 by the
Thunderbird School of Global Management, found businesses of all sizes want to improve productivity by moving more functions to the cloud - but the larger the company, the greater the concerns surrounding security.
"The cloud has been an established part of the IT landscape for at least 15 years, yet there remains a considerable amount of mystery surrounding how it works and how secure it is," said
Harish Krishnamurthy, senior vice president, Insight Cloud. "Due to lack of accurate information, businesses often decide against the cloud and are losing out on substantial benefits. The results of this study coupled with the work we are doing with clients leads us to believe that there is a strong need for increased education and awareness about the reality of the issues and benefits of cloud technology."
Insecurity and the Cloud
As part of the study commissioned by Insight, the Thunderbird School of Global Management research team conducted detailed interviews with IT leaders representing businesses and
organizations with a total of more than 2 million employees and $4 billion in annual revenue, including school districts, banks, and municipal governments. The respondents said "the unknowns" of security were the most common concerns that prevent shifting operations to the cloud. The study also found that cloud security misconceptions can be cleared up when IT leaders are provided with information on physical security, backup and recovery, compliance, incident handling, logs of security attacks and non-disclosure agreements.
"When we asked respondents to identify the reasons for moving toward cloud computing and key drawbacks, they noted improved productivity as the primary reason and highlighted security as the main inhibitor. This is interesting as most of the respondents were people within the organization who were familiar with the cloud, and most of the organizations were already using cloud services or applications at some level," said Krishnamurthy. "This showed us that although businesses are continuing to adopt cloud rapidly to improve productivity, they still have concerns about security and how the cloud works."
Approaching the Cloud
The study found that businesses embrace cloud technology when they understand how a solution would impact the organization and when the benefits to the organization were seen as practical, obtainable and cost-effective. Key concepts that resonated with study participants were that cloud services save money by minimizing infrastructure costs and reducing reliance on internal IT functions, allowing companies to do more with less.
"Our research highlighted that businesses are realizing improved efficiencies and cost savings as a result of adopting the cloud," said Krishnamurthy. "From the interviews, it is apparent that these two benefits are very important considerations influencing cloud adoption and migration. Interviewees noted that they had achieved significant cost reductions for their companies with transitions to the cloud."
When considering moving toward the cloud, respondents ranked the reasons in order of priority as:
1. Increased productivity
2. Cost savings
3. Increased mobility
4. Increased revenue
5. Increased responsiveness to industry shifts
The Cloud Explained with Insight ON: Cloud
To help meet the growing demand for information and resources on cloud solutions, Insight has introduced Insight ON: Cloud as an IT resource. The site is part of Insight's commitment to help decision makers who need critical expertise as the cloud rapidly transforms information technology. Insight ON: Cloud features regularly updated editorial content from Insight staff and guest authors covering a wide range of topics.
For more information on Insight, visit
http://www.insight.com/insighton/cloud