What Did The Cloud Look Like At The End Of 2014?

There have been several key buzzwords in 2014, with ‘Cloud’ perhaps being one of the most popular.

This has been highlighted by the fact that cloud adoption has grown significantly, with several trends emerging throughout the year.

In a recent survey by IDG Enterprise, 69 per cent of respondents said that at least a portion of their computing infrastructure is cloud-based, whilst 56 per cent are still traversing the logistics of moving to the cloud.

Respondents believe that cloud solutions are providing several business advantages, such as increasing IT agility (63 per cent) and IT innovation (61 per cent) and improving the ability to access vital business data (58 per cent).

Investment in cloud solutions has increased by nearly a fifth (19 per cent) since 2012. SMB’s are now spending an average of $400,000 (£260,000) a year, with large enterprises averaging $3.3 million (£2.1 million).

Furthermore, in 2015 spending on cloud solutions is expected to account for almost a quarter of IT budgets.

Brian Gylnn, chief revenue officer at IDG Enterprise, said: “As use of cloud solutions mature, more than half of companies surveyed are shifting from adoption to upgraded services.

“This opens the door for new and existing solution providers as businesses continue to look for ways to improve agility and innovation while balancing enterprise security and risk.”

In terms of the types of solutions businesses are choosing, hybrid cloud is still lagging behind. Public and private cloud remain the preferred options for companies, with 60 per cent and 57 per cent respectively, whilst hybrid cloud brings up the rear with 19 per cent.

However, the main issue still revolves around security. The survey found that security is seen as the primary barrier to cloud adoption, which makes sense given the almost constant flow of data leaks and breaches to have become public in recent months.

Whatever happens in 2015, cloud technology is likely to play a major role and, although a large proportion of CEO’s are yet to be convinced, it’s looking the like the only way is up for the cloud.