State Of The Cloud Survey Shows Surge In Acceptance

A survey of the state of the cloud by Cisco has found a huge jump in its acceptance by British businesses, along with a shift in the perception of cloud security, which has been a major hurdle until now.

The number of companies planning to use the cloud has jumped from 52 percent last year to 90 percent this year, according to Cisco’s second Cloudwatch report, which surveyed 250 IT decision makers at large organisations. While cloud security is still the major barrier, an increasing number actually saw increased security as a benefit to the cloud.

Changing state of the cloud

The change shows that businesses have moved to a more realistic evaluation of the ability of the cloud, said Cisco’s UK CTO, Ian Foddering (below).

“Two years ago, there was a huge amount of hype, depending on the definition and the type of model you deployed,” Foddering told TechWeekEurope. “In the last twelve months, we have had a greater level of transparency. A lot of the hype has disappeared and we are seeing the reality of the cloud.”

Both the benefits and the drawbacks of the cloud all score lower this year than last, as vendors stop over-selling it and users stop fearing it, according to the survey.

Last year, security led an array of fears including integration issues and compliance, with three quarters of the survey citing security as a barrier. This year those figures have all fallen, with 52 percent of people worried about security – the only barrier remaining above 50 percent.

At the same time, the benefits of cloud have all been reassessed in the light of day and users seem to have lower expectations. The same figure (57 percent) still expect to cut costs with cloud services, but “rapid deployment”, which 61 percent of users users expected the cloud to give them last year, is now only hoped for by 43 percent.

Only one benefit is expected by more people. Less than one-third of respondents expected increased security last year, but 37 percent think the cloud will be more secure this year. “Historically one of the biggest barriers was the cloud’s perceived lack of security,” said Foddering. “It is now seen as the only growing benefit of cloud.”

What’s the state of your cloud knowledge? Take our quiz!