86 Percent Of UK SMEs Unaware Of Cloud Energy Savings

Research by the energy provider E.ON has revealed that over 1.1 million British SMEs are unaware they can make significant savings on their IT energy footprint by moving their business into the cloud.

The research also found that 60 percent of SMEs are concerned by their energy expenditure, and yet 39 percent struggled to define what the cloud is.

Energy matters

The E.ON study surveyed 896 British SMEs in business, professional, finance and property services, finding that 86 percent of respondents didn’t know that the Cloud could save money on electricity.

According to the Environment & Energy Study, conducted last year by Microsoft, Accenture and WSP, cloud computing, among other benefits, can offer as much as a 90 percent reduction on an SMEs IT energy footprint.

With cloud computing, companies only have to pay for the computing power they actually use, with the ability to scale requirements up or down as needed. This means no server will run under capacity, wasting money and energy.

However, despite the significant savings available with this technology, over a third of respondents admitted to not even knowing what the cloud is. SMEs in property services were the bottom of the class, with only a quarter able to tell the difference between computer clouds and those white fluffy things in the sky.

That’s hardly surprising, as, according to E.ON, less than a third of SMEs actually consider the impact on energy costs when making business plans.

The study is part of a wider E.ON initiative aiming to get British businesses energy fit by providing the tools and advice to better understand the amount of electricity they consume.

“Energy is a hot topic for UK SMEs and it’s clear they are unaware of the energy saving solutions available to them. By adopting cloud computing, small businesses are in a win-win situation, they will be able to improve their productivity through its flexible approach and will benefit from savings on their IT energy expenditure,” said Iain Walker, head of business sales at E.ON.

“As with other green technologies, it is important business owners realise that embracing cloud computing can significantly reduce bottom line costs as well as their energy footprint,“ added Phil McCabe, senior policy adviser at the Forum of Private Business.

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