News

Survey: Cloud Benefits Not Clearly Defined

• By Keith Ward
• October 14, 2010

A recent survey shows that one of the greatest challenges facing the adoption of cloud computing is that the industry isn't selling it very well.

Integration platform company Hubspan conducted the survey, which found that 59 percent of companies see the cloud as a strategic direction. Twenty percent said they had no interest in the cloud, while 21 percent remain undecided. At the department level, 64 percent are developing plans for the cloud, and a quarter aren't.

Those figures reflect similar findings from other cloud computing surveys. What's striking is that among those companies not planning a cloud move, about 36 percent cite not understanding cloud benefits as the main reason. And even though security is often listed as a primary fear of moving to cloud computing, the Hubspan survey shows that that reservation may be overblown; only 5 percent listed security as a concern. In fact, security is down in fifth place, behind not understanding the benefits; "We Have Our Own Way Of Doing Things"; "No Budget"; and "Takes Too Much Time and Resources."

The blog entry accompanying the survey says the problem could actually be too much data, rather than too little: "Perhaps this is a case of information overlead, as there is so much being said about the cloud that it's sometimes hard to break through the noise."

So how do cloud providers position their wares? The blog has a suggestion: "The greatest benefit still must be that the solution solves a business challenge. As an industry, we obviously need to do more to clearly explain the why and when the cloud makes sense for a business."