Dell World 2014 – Security Fears “Affecting Adoption Of Cloud And Big Data”

Security remains a continuing barrier for businesses looking to move their operations into the cloud, according to a new report by Dell.

Revealing the findings at the company’s Dell World event in Austin today, the computing giant highlighted that fears over the security of big data, mobility and cloud solutions are affecting the progress of businesses around the world.

Overall, security was found to be the biggest barrier for expanding mobility technologies (44 percent), using cloud computing (52 percent) and leveraging big data (35 percent), highlighting a worrying loss of opportunity for many businesses.

Unprepared

Dell’s survey also found that nearly half (43 percent) of businesses were funnelling their security resources into protecting themselves against hackers, as well as making sure that they adhere to compliance regulations (37 percent).

Worryingly, only 39 percent of respondents have a workforce that is fully aware of the organisation’s own security rules.

“We know that security, cloud, mobility and big data are the top IT priorities in all industries, but we need a deeper understanding of the practical realities of how companies are using these technologies today and what, if anything, is preventing them from unleashing their full potential,” said Karen Quintos, Dell’s chief marketing officer.

The study, which surveyed over 2,000 organisations across the globe, also found that big data adoption was proving to be less widespread than that of cloud, as many businesses are failing to see the benefits.

97 percent of organisations surveyed use or plan to use cloud and nearly half have implemented a mobility strategy, big data adoption is trailing as approximately 60 percent of organisations surveyed do not know how to gain its insights.

This is despite businesses who reported they had the know-how to analyse big data seeing a much higher rate of growth than those who did not, with the average three-year growth rate (14 percent) for those most effective in leveraging big data is almost twice as high as that of organisations least effective in using big data (8 percent).

Certain industries were also more willing to utilise big data analytics, with the financial sector (57 percent) and healthcare and telecom (both at 56 percent) the most likely to take advantage of their big data.

“Despite mounting security risks and increased reliance on the Internet and technology to run their businesses, many small and midsize organisations are underprepared to deal with today’s security threats, let alone those of the future,” said Laurie McCabe, partner, SMB Group.

“These companies know that disruptive technologies like cloud, mobility and big data can drive innovation and create competitive advantage. But it’s often difficult for them to take a strategic approach and overcome security concerns in order to fully harness the potential.”

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