As they enter a period of recovery, most organizations (85 percent) recognize that their application portfolios are in need of rationalization and that mission critical applications implemented using outdated technology must be revised and updated to increase efficiency, a survey has found.
As a result, 42 percent of companies plan to increase their budget allocation for application quality assurance (QA) and testing. And as companies seek to adopt agile delivery methods as part of their application quality assurance, the percentage of companies who are moving at least some of their IT systems to the cloud has grown to 81 percent. The emergence of new technologies such as cloud-based services is also fueling the need for stringent testing and QA, as application security becomes vital for ensuring quality and mitigating risk.
Investment in quality assurance is greatest in emerging economies. In the last year, 83 percent of Chinese companies and 56 percent of Brazilian companies substantially increased their QA investment, contrasting with relatively steady budgets in North America and Europe. The focus on quality assurance across Australian organizations has also increased markedly over the past year, with 37 percent of survey respondents indicating that their testing budgets had gone up. Increasingly, investment in QA is focused on promoting efficiency and standardization, often through creating Testing Centers of Excellence to centralize and consolidate QA practices, particularly in emerging market companies.
Emerging economies are also the fastest adopters of cloud infrastructure:
-- Over a third of Chinese companies (37 percent) plan to migrate between 11 and 25 percent of their applications to the cloud in the next year with a further 40 percent making arrangements to host between 26 and 50 percent;
-- In contrast, 24 percent of companies in the North America and 18 percent of Western and Northern European companies indicate they still have no interest in migrating their applications to the cloud.
The adoption of cloud and the growing reliance on Internet-based applications is also raising the importance placed on application security, which in the past has typically been seen by companies as an audit and risk management function. Over a quarter (27 percent) of large organizations (5,000+ employees), are putting in place dedicated information security (IS) teams to design and test security procedures and requirements to ensure new systems and applications have not been compromised and that confidential and sensitive information is protected from access or damage by unauthorised users. Testing in the cloud means a new generation of testers will need to manage the entire portfolio of IT services rather than just verifying the quality of individual systems.
Businesses' continue to rely on outsourcing for application testing. Over two thirds (70 percent) of respondents employ contractors or third party vendors for quality assurance. No longer are they looking to only outsource test execution, but also testing strategy, user acceptance testing and security. Preference for outsourcing continues to be co-location (27 percent) followed by near-shore locations within a company's country or continent (24 percent). However, preference of off-shore locations differs between North American and European organizations. For companies based in the US and Canada the next choice is often India (18 percent), followed by China (12 percent), and Eastern Europe (9 percent) while for the first time, Western and Northern European companies have indicated they prefer to outsource QA to Eastern Europe (12 percent) or China (7 percent) over India (4 percent).
The report also highlights the need for the standardization of QA, through proven methodologies, as increasing importance is placed on measuring business impact, whether linking results to business goals or quantifying losses from potential application defects. There has also been a continued rise in test automation to help address this:
-- 37 percent use internally developed estimation techniques and a further 22 percent of companies use industry standard estimation methods and yet 12 percent have no consistent methodology at all;
-- However, the majority of companies (58 percent) carry out up to half of their QA without using automation. Only 23 percent use automated testing solutions for over half of tests.
Comment from Raf Howery, vice president, Global Channels and Partners Executive, Capgemini: CIOs are under intense pressure to deliver high quality applications on a tight budget. Migrating high quality applications to the cloud is a natural progression as it offers a cost effective, reliable and agile arena to create and test them in. Further investment in QA, especially in developed markets, will help ensure companies can flourish in the cloud once the technology is fully adopted.
Comment from Jonathan Rende, general manager and vice president, Applications, Software, HP: Today trends like cloud and mobile are elevating the complexity of applications. Organizations are challenged more than ever to maintain their competitive edge by delivering higher quality software while remaining agile. The results of the World Quality Report underscore how the discipline of quality management, global sourcing and agile processes must become integral to an organization's software delivery strategy to effectively innovate faster.
About the survey: Capgemini, a provider of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, and Sogeti, its local professional services division, together with HP today released the findings of the third annual World Quality Report. The World Quality Report Survey was completed by 1,200 CEOs, CIOs, CFOs, IT directors and managers and QA managers around the world, including North America (39 percent), Western Europe (33 percent), Australia (8 percent), China (8 percent), Brazil (5 percent) and other regions in Europe, Asia and Latin America (7 percent). The survey also included responses from a variety of different company sizes.
Contact: http://www.capgemini.com/testing; http://www.sogeti.com/testing
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Cloud Will Have Dramatic Impact on IT Organizations, Vendors and Enterprises
Top information technology executives believe that cloud computing will have a significant impact on IT organizations and IT vendors, as well as the enterprises they support, according to a survey.
More than 70 percent of those surveyed said they believed that by 2014, a third of all IT organizations will be providers of cloud services to customers or business partners.
Almost 80 percent of respondents felt that cloud service brokers that provide integration, management, security and other services across public cloud offerings will emerge as powerful industry players by 2015.
The survey findings raised a red flag for the IT industry as a whole, with nearly two-thirds of those surveyed agreeing that several IT vendors will stumble badly in the transition to the cloud over the next three years, putting them at risk of becoming the next Wang or DEC.
Nearly half of respondents feel that major cloud providers will have addressed uptime concerns so effectively in the next three years that reliability will be a non-issue in moving enterprises to the cloud. The findings also showed that most believed security -- a chief impediment to cloud services -- will instead become a major accelerator by 2015.
More than 80 percent of the respondents said that one-third of Fortune 1000 enterprises will deploy at least one business-critical system in the cloud. More than half of the IT executives surveyed believe that mobile-optimized cloud services will be a primary interface with customers by 2014.
Comment from John Gallant, SVP and chief content officer, IDG Enterprise: The cloud has been the subject of much debate and discussion, but this survey offers us new and unique insights, from a group of today's most influential IT executives and early cloud adopters.
About the survey: The "Future Proofing the Cloud" survey from IDG Enterprise included questions that explore how the cloud is changing the IT organization, as well as how the industry and technology itself may evolve.
Contact: http://www.idc.com
Contact: http://www.www.idgenterprise.com
More than 70 percent of those surveyed said they believed that by 2014, a third of all IT organizations will be providers of cloud services to customers or business partners.
Almost 80 percent of respondents felt that cloud service brokers that provide integration, management, security and other services across public cloud offerings will emerge as powerful industry players by 2015.
The survey findings raised a red flag for the IT industry as a whole, with nearly two-thirds of those surveyed agreeing that several IT vendors will stumble badly in the transition to the cloud over the next three years, putting them at risk of becoming the next Wang or DEC.
Nearly half of respondents feel that major cloud providers will have addressed uptime concerns so effectively in the next three years that reliability will be a non-issue in moving enterprises to the cloud. The findings also showed that most believed security -- a chief impediment to cloud services -- will instead become a major accelerator by 2015.
More than 80 percent of the respondents said that one-third of Fortune 1000 enterprises will deploy at least one business-critical system in the cloud. More than half of the IT executives surveyed believe that mobile-optimized cloud services will be a primary interface with customers by 2014.
Comment from John Gallant, SVP and chief content officer, IDG Enterprise: The cloud has been the subject of much debate and discussion, but this survey offers us new and unique insights, from a group of today's most influential IT executives and early cloud adopters.
About the survey: The "Future Proofing the Cloud" survey from IDG Enterprise included questions that explore how the cloud is changing the IT organization, as well as how the industry and technology itself may evolve.
Contact: http://www.idc.com
Contact: http://www.www.idgenterprise.com
Monday, June 20, 2011
Discrepancies Found Between Cloud Project Goals and Reality
Disparities exist between expectations and reality as enterprises deploy cloud computing and virtualization solutions, a survey has found. CEOs and CFOs are concerned with moving business-critical applications into virtual or cloud environments due to challenges including reliability, security, availability and performance.
Adoption of server virtualization is widespread, and more than 75 percent of organizations are discussing private and hybrid cloud deployments. Of the technologies evaluated in the survey, server and storage virtualization are the most mature with 45 and 43 percent of enterprises implementing. Private Storage-as-a-Service is the least mature with 36 percent adopting.
Early investments have revealed gaps between expectations and reality which indicate that organizations are still learning what these technologies are capable of and how to overcome the new challenges they bring with them. Respondents were asked about initial goals in server, storage, and endpoint virtualization; private Storage-as-a-Service; and hybrid/private cloud. Then those who have already implemented were asked which goals they actually achieved. The difference between the two answers revealed an expectation gap.
-- Server virtualization projects were most successful, with only a 4 percent average gap between expected and realized goals. The biggest
gaps occurred in scalability, reducing capital expenditures and reducing operating expenditures.
-- The average shortfall in storage virtualization was 33 percent, with disappointments coming in agility, scalability and reducing operating expenditures.
-- Respondents reported an average gap between expected and realized goals of 26 percent with endpoint/desktop virtualization. They cited
disappointments in new endpoint deployment, application delivery and application compatibility.
-- Seventy-seven percent of organizations are considering private Storage-as-a-Service, but these projects are challenging to implement
and fall short of expectations by 37 percent. For example, complexity reduction was a goal for 84 percent of respondents, but reached by
only 44 percent.
These gaps are a hallmark of early stage markets where expectations are out of step with reality. As the virtualization and cloud markets continue to mature, we expect to see those gaps close.
Increasing Focus on Business-Critical Applications Organizations investing in virtualization and hybrid/private cloud technologies tend to follow a similar path, starting by virtualizing less critical applications such as test and development environments and progressing to more important applications such as email and collaboration; line of business; eCommerce and supply chain; and ERP/CRM.
The survey shows that organizations are leveraging virtualization for business-critical applications. Of enterprises who are implementing virtualization, more than half (59 percent) plan to virtualize database applications in the next 12 months. Fifty-five percent plan to virtualize web applications, and 47 percent plan to virtualize email and calendar applications. Forty-one percent plan to virtualize ERP applications.
We found that organizations are more slowly leveraging hybrid/private cloud technologies for business-critical applications. An average of just 33 percent of business-critical applications such as ERP, accounting and CRM are in hybrid/private cloud environments. Respondents stated concerns over account, service, or traffic hijacking; authentication vulnerabilities; access vulnerabilities; disaster recovery; and encryption.
Quality of Service Challenges Emerge as Top Priorities As virtualization and private cloud technologies become more widely adopted, the cost and performance of storage is becoming increasingly top of mind. More than half of respondents (56 percent) said storage costs somewhat or significantly increased with server virtualization. Of those in the process of virtualizing storage, the top three reasons for deployment include reducing operating expenses (55 percent), improving storage performance (54 percent), and improving disaster recovery readiness (53 percent).
Seventy-six percent of enterprises who have implemented server virtualization indicated that security was a somewhat/extremely large factor in keeping various constituents from being more confident about placing business-critical applications on virtualized servers. Sixty-three percent listed security as a significant/extreme challenge to implementing server virtualization.
Performance issues are a factor for the majority of organizations. Seventy-six percent of those who have implemented server virtualization stated that performance was a somewhat/extremely large factor in keeping various constituents from being more confident about placing business-critical applications on virtualized servers. Seventy-two percent of organizations that have implemented hybrid/private clouds cited performance as a significant/extreme challenge.
Among enterprises that have implemented server virtualization, reliability was the number one concern. Seventy-eight percent said it was a somewhat/extremely large factor in keeping various constituents from being more confident about placing mission-critical applications on virtualized servers. Of those who have implemented storage virtualization, 83 percent stated uptime and availability as an important goal.
According to the survey findings, 46 percent of CFOs who are implementing hybrid/private clouds are less than "somewhat open" to moving business-critical applications into those environments. Forty-four percent of CEOs are cautious about moving these applications.
Main concerns cited about virtualization and hybrid cloud deployments are reliability (78 percent), security (76 percent), and performance (76 percent).
In practice, many C-level concerns are unfounded based on responses from IT. For example, concerns about performance are a top reason cited for caution, yet 78 to 85 percent of those who deployed server virtualization achieved their goals related to performance.
Comment from John Magee, vice president of virtualization and cloud solutions, Symantec: Cloud computing represents a major shift within IT -- changing from a traditional IT delivery to a service-provider model. Moving to the cloud is a complex evolution for many companies and it's essential that IT and executives are aligned on initiatives. Virtualization is an enabler for private and hybrid clouds and our survey shows that planning a seamless move is critical to achieving all the simplicity, affordability and efficiency that these environments have to offer.
Recommendations
Enterprise IT's evolution to the cloud has a fair share of challenges, but also compelling rewards. Despite concerns, most enterprises are implementing virtualization and moving to a cloud computing future. For these enterprises, Symantec offers recommendations to help make the journey as smooth as possible.
-- Ensure alignment between IT and executives in virtualization and cloud initiatives: It is important to show that you can address C-level concerns such as security and availability. Show that their concerns, while important, can be successfully overcome by leveraging existing best practices and robust solutions that ensure valuable information and critical applications are protected and highly available.
-- Don't operate in a silo when it comes to cloud computing: Virtualization and cloud initiatives are most successful when implemented as mainstream, comprehensive IT initiatives. Because they involve all aspects of IT (servers, storage, network, applications, etc.) they can fail when managed as siloed "special projects." Rather, treat cloud as an IT-wide initiative with all departments included in planning and implementation.
-- Leverage and modernize your existing infrastructure: Before you're ready to implement hybrid/private cloud, make sure you are leveraging
the existing infrastructure to achieve the same efficiencies and then modernizing it as needed. Convert static servers, storage and networking into a virtualized pool of resources. Replace static provisioning with self-service provisioning, and make sure to implement monitoring and metering to demonstrate value to the business.
-- Set realistic expectations and track your results: Remember that despite the hype, cloud is a new and still maturing market. Do your
homework to set expectations that are realistic, then follow up and track results to identify ways to improve project efficiency going forward.
About the survey: Symantec's Virtualization and Evolution to the Cloud Survey Symantec's Virtualization and Evolution to the Cloud Survey is the result of research conducted in April 2011 by Applied Research, which surveyed more than 3,700 respondents from 35 countries worldwide. IT and C-level professionals responsible for computers, networks and technology resources at small, medium, and large enterprises (defined as 1,000-2,400, 2,500-4,999, and 5,000+ employees). The survey included more than 3,700 respondents from 35 countries in North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Asia Pacific and Latin America.
Contact: http://www.symantec.com
Adoption of server virtualization is widespread, and more than 75 percent of organizations are discussing private and hybrid cloud deployments. Of the technologies evaluated in the survey, server and storage virtualization are the most mature with 45 and 43 percent of enterprises implementing. Private Storage-as-a-Service is the least mature with 36 percent adopting.
Early investments have revealed gaps between expectations and reality which indicate that organizations are still learning what these technologies are capable of and how to overcome the new challenges they bring with them. Respondents were asked about initial goals in server, storage, and endpoint virtualization; private Storage-as-a-Service; and hybrid/private cloud. Then those who have already implemented were asked which goals they actually achieved. The difference between the two answers revealed an expectation gap.
-- Server virtualization projects were most successful, with only a 4 percent average gap between expected and realized goals. The biggest
gaps occurred in scalability, reducing capital expenditures and reducing operating expenditures.
-- The average shortfall in storage virtualization was 33 percent, with disappointments coming in agility, scalability and reducing operating expenditures.
-- Respondents reported an average gap between expected and realized goals of 26 percent with endpoint/desktop virtualization. They cited
disappointments in new endpoint deployment, application delivery and application compatibility.
-- Seventy-seven percent of organizations are considering private Storage-as-a-Service, but these projects are challenging to implement
and fall short of expectations by 37 percent. For example, complexity reduction was a goal for 84 percent of respondents, but reached by
only 44 percent.
These gaps are a hallmark of early stage markets where expectations are out of step with reality. As the virtualization and cloud markets continue to mature, we expect to see those gaps close.
Increasing Focus on Business-Critical Applications Organizations investing in virtualization and hybrid/private cloud technologies tend to follow a similar path, starting by virtualizing less critical applications such as test and development environments and progressing to more important applications such as email and collaboration; line of business; eCommerce and supply chain; and ERP/CRM.
The survey shows that organizations are leveraging virtualization for business-critical applications. Of enterprises who are implementing virtualization, more than half (59 percent) plan to virtualize database applications in the next 12 months. Fifty-five percent plan to virtualize web applications, and 47 percent plan to virtualize email and calendar applications. Forty-one percent plan to virtualize ERP applications.
We found that organizations are more slowly leveraging hybrid/private cloud technologies for business-critical applications. An average of just 33 percent of business-critical applications such as ERP, accounting and CRM are in hybrid/private cloud environments. Respondents stated concerns over account, service, or traffic hijacking; authentication vulnerabilities; access vulnerabilities; disaster recovery; and encryption.
Quality of Service Challenges Emerge as Top Priorities As virtualization and private cloud technologies become more widely adopted, the cost and performance of storage is becoming increasingly top of mind. More than half of respondents (56 percent) said storage costs somewhat or significantly increased with server virtualization. Of those in the process of virtualizing storage, the top three reasons for deployment include reducing operating expenses (55 percent), improving storage performance (54 percent), and improving disaster recovery readiness (53 percent).
Seventy-six percent of enterprises who have implemented server virtualization indicated that security was a somewhat/extremely large factor in keeping various constituents from being more confident about placing business-critical applications on virtualized servers. Sixty-three percent listed security as a significant/extreme challenge to implementing server virtualization.
Performance issues are a factor for the majority of organizations. Seventy-six percent of those who have implemented server virtualization stated that performance was a somewhat/extremely large factor in keeping various constituents from being more confident about placing business-critical applications on virtualized servers. Seventy-two percent of organizations that have implemented hybrid/private clouds cited performance as a significant/extreme challenge.
Among enterprises that have implemented server virtualization, reliability was the number one concern. Seventy-eight percent said it was a somewhat/extremely large factor in keeping various constituents from being more confident about placing mission-critical applications on virtualized servers. Of those who have implemented storage virtualization, 83 percent stated uptime and availability as an important goal.
According to the survey findings, 46 percent of CFOs who are implementing hybrid/private clouds are less than "somewhat open" to moving business-critical applications into those environments. Forty-four percent of CEOs are cautious about moving these applications.
Main concerns cited about virtualization and hybrid cloud deployments are reliability (78 percent), security (76 percent), and performance (76 percent).
In practice, many C-level concerns are unfounded based on responses from IT. For example, concerns about performance are a top reason cited for caution, yet 78 to 85 percent of those who deployed server virtualization achieved their goals related to performance.
Comment from John Magee, vice president of virtualization and cloud solutions, Symantec: Cloud computing represents a major shift within IT -- changing from a traditional IT delivery to a service-provider model. Moving to the cloud is a complex evolution for many companies and it's essential that IT and executives are aligned on initiatives. Virtualization is an enabler for private and hybrid clouds and our survey shows that planning a seamless move is critical to achieving all the simplicity, affordability and efficiency that these environments have to offer.
Recommendations
Enterprise IT's evolution to the cloud has a fair share of challenges, but also compelling rewards. Despite concerns, most enterprises are implementing virtualization and moving to a cloud computing future. For these enterprises, Symantec offers recommendations to help make the journey as smooth as possible.
-- Ensure alignment between IT and executives in virtualization and cloud initiatives: It is important to show that you can address C-level concerns such as security and availability. Show that their concerns, while important, can be successfully overcome by leveraging existing best practices and robust solutions that ensure valuable information and critical applications are protected and highly available.
-- Don't operate in a silo when it comes to cloud computing: Virtualization and cloud initiatives are most successful when implemented as mainstream, comprehensive IT initiatives. Because they involve all aspects of IT (servers, storage, network, applications, etc.) they can fail when managed as siloed "special projects." Rather, treat cloud as an IT-wide initiative with all departments included in planning and implementation.
-- Leverage and modernize your existing infrastructure: Before you're ready to implement hybrid/private cloud, make sure you are leveraging
the existing infrastructure to achieve the same efficiencies and then modernizing it as needed. Convert static servers, storage and networking into a virtualized pool of resources. Replace static provisioning with self-service provisioning, and make sure to implement monitoring and metering to demonstrate value to the business.
-- Set realistic expectations and track your results: Remember that despite the hype, cloud is a new and still maturing market. Do your
homework to set expectations that are realistic, then follow up and track results to identify ways to improve project efficiency going forward.
About the survey: Symantec's Virtualization and Evolution to the Cloud Survey Symantec's Virtualization and Evolution to the Cloud Survey is the result of research conducted in April 2011 by Applied Research, which surveyed more than 3,700 respondents from 35 countries worldwide. IT and C-level professionals responsible for computers, networks and technology resources at small, medium, and large enterprises (defined as 1,000-2,400, 2,500-4,999, and 5,000+ employees). The survey included more than 3,700 respondents from 35 countries in North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Asia Pacific and Latin America.
Contact: http://www.symantec.com
Public Cloud Computing Services Expanding Rapidly
The rapid growth in the use of public cloud services indicates that cloud services are becoming more mainstream, causing growing pains for many companies, according to a survey. One in five executives says it's impossible to manage the disparate cloud services within their organization, while another 60 percent are worried about cloud sprawl -- the unmanaged adoption of public cloud services within an organization.
Despite these challenges, the survey shows cloud computing is maturing in the enterprise as CIOs increasingly look to cloud services to achieve business benefits, such as improved flexibility, reduced costs and helping to speed time to market.
One in five respondents says they have personally purchased a cloud service without the IT department's knowledge. While 60 percent of companies report they have policies in place that prohibit such actions, respondents say there are no real deterrents for purchasing cloud services by stealth. In fact, 29 percent report there are no ramifications whatsoever while another 48 percent say it is little more than a warning.
The survey also reveals a communication chasm. One-quarter of executives report they don't have open communication with the departments and business unit leaders that may be provisioning their own cloud services.
In terms of overall cloud computing adoption, the survey found 74 percent of companies are using some form of cloud services today -- a 25 percent growth in adoption since Avanade's September 2009 survey. Of those organizations that have yet to implement cloud, three-quarters say it's on the horizon.
With this growth in adoption also emerged three signs cloud computing is maturing:
1. Companies are increasing investments to secure, manage and support cloud.
2. There is a growing adoption and preference for private cloud.
3. Execs are starting to see cloud as a way to generate revenue.
Executives report they are investing in security solutions as well as people to ensure successful cloud deployments. In fact, 64 percent say they are investing in training for new and current employees to increase expertise in cloud technologies.
The survey also shows private cloud deployments are growing -- especially where critical, differentiating internal operations and customer services are at stake. Today, 43 percent of companies report they utilize private clouds, while an additional 34 percent say they will begin to do so in the next six to 12 months.
Further, companies are moving beyond internal employee-facing cloud services to use them with external customers. Many companies report they are now using cloud computing to deliver new products and services to customers, while more than one in five C-level executives believe cloud computing will increase revenues.
Comment from Tyson Hartman, global chief technology officer at Avanade: As is true with many forms of technology innovation, consumer technology often has a way of secretly creeping into the enterprise. Today, public cloud services are in a similar situation. The barrier to entry for many cloud capabilities continues to lower and our research shows some are so easy to adopt, they are outpacing the ability of IT leaders to manage them effectively. While policy is a place to start, managing cloud sprawl requires a real cooperation and dialogue between CIOs and their business counterparts. It's important that companies define a user-centric cloud strategy. With that strategy in hand, it's much easier to have an open dialogue in discovering what cloud services are already being used, where the gaps are and what new technologies the company should leverage to drive business value.
Comment from Larry Beck, senior director, cloud strategy at Avanade: Any decision to begin using cloud computing requires forethought, planning and preparation. Companies must identify their business objectives, determine which applications are prime targets for moving to the cloud, prove the business case and ensure the technology fits. The journey to cloud is an evolution that will occur over time. IT professionals should start with a clear plan, sound analysis, proven methodologies and practices, and a strong line of communication to the user community and corporate executives.
About the survey: The "Has Cloud Computing Matured?" survey was conducted by Kelton Research, an independent research firm, in March to April 2011, and surveyed 573 C-level executives, IT decision makers and business unit leaders at top companies located in 18 countries across North America, South America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Contact: For additional information or to download a copy of the executive summary, click here.
Contact: http://www.avanade.com
Despite these challenges, the survey shows cloud computing is maturing in the enterprise as CIOs increasingly look to cloud services to achieve business benefits, such as improved flexibility, reduced costs and helping to speed time to market.
One in five respondents says they have personally purchased a cloud service without the IT department's knowledge. While 60 percent of companies report they have policies in place that prohibit such actions, respondents say there are no real deterrents for purchasing cloud services by stealth. In fact, 29 percent report there are no ramifications whatsoever while another 48 percent say it is little more than a warning.
The survey also reveals a communication chasm. One-quarter of executives report they don't have open communication with the departments and business unit leaders that may be provisioning their own cloud services.
In terms of overall cloud computing adoption, the survey found 74 percent of companies are using some form of cloud services today -- a 25 percent growth in adoption since Avanade's September 2009 survey. Of those organizations that have yet to implement cloud, three-quarters say it's on the horizon.
With this growth in adoption also emerged three signs cloud computing is maturing:
1. Companies are increasing investments to secure, manage and support cloud.
2. There is a growing adoption and preference for private cloud.
3. Execs are starting to see cloud as a way to generate revenue.
Executives report they are investing in security solutions as well as people to ensure successful cloud deployments. In fact, 64 percent say they are investing in training for new and current employees to increase expertise in cloud technologies.
The survey also shows private cloud deployments are growing -- especially where critical, differentiating internal operations and customer services are at stake. Today, 43 percent of companies report they utilize private clouds, while an additional 34 percent say they will begin to do so in the next six to 12 months.
Further, companies are moving beyond internal employee-facing cloud services to use them with external customers. Many companies report they are now using cloud computing to deliver new products and services to customers, while more than one in five C-level executives believe cloud computing will increase revenues.
Comment from Tyson Hartman, global chief technology officer at Avanade: As is true with many forms of technology innovation, consumer technology often has a way of secretly creeping into the enterprise. Today, public cloud services are in a similar situation. The barrier to entry for many cloud capabilities continues to lower and our research shows some are so easy to adopt, they are outpacing the ability of IT leaders to manage them effectively. While policy is a place to start, managing cloud sprawl requires a real cooperation and dialogue between CIOs and their business counterparts. It's important that companies define a user-centric cloud strategy. With that strategy in hand, it's much easier to have an open dialogue in discovering what cloud services are already being used, where the gaps are and what new technologies the company should leverage to drive business value.
Comment from Larry Beck, senior director, cloud strategy at Avanade: Any decision to begin using cloud computing requires forethought, planning and preparation. Companies must identify their business objectives, determine which applications are prime targets for moving to the cloud, prove the business case and ensure the technology fits. The journey to cloud is an evolution that will occur over time. IT professionals should start with a clear plan, sound analysis, proven methodologies and practices, and a strong line of communication to the user community and corporate executives.
About the survey: The "Has Cloud Computing Matured?" survey was conducted by Kelton Research, an independent research firm, in March to April 2011, and surveyed 573 C-level executives, IT decision makers and business unit leaders at top companies located in 18 countries across North America, South America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Contact: For additional information or to download a copy of the executive summary, click here.
Contact: http://www.avanade.com
Exposing Enterprise Apps To Mobile Users Via The Cloud Raises Security Worries
Security is the top concern for connecting from mobile Cloud-based applications into the organization, accoding to a survey. The security challenges cited by 48 percent of the respondents included the problem of how to protect a mobile application itself from reverse-engineering, how to protect the Web Services used by the mobile application, and how to deter users from installing malicious mobile applications placed in app markets (such as the Android Market) by attackers.
Additionally, 26 percent of respondents felt that integration complexities were a challenge. This is to be expected as programming for mobile apps uses such lightweight protocols as REST and JSON, whilst the enterprise application development environment is characterized by enterprise applications such as SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft .NET, which tend to support heavyweight standards such as SOAP, rather than REST and JSON.
Other interesting data gleaned indicates that 53 percent of organizations are currently deploying mobile applications to customers with 47 percent deploying applications to employees and 24 percent deploying to partners. Of note, 29 percent said they were planning to deploy mobile applications, but had not done so at this time. Additionally, 18 percent did not have any current deployment plans.
Comment from Hugh Carroll, VP Marketing at Vordel: The survey results demonstrate that organizations need to govern the mobile app channel as it increasingly becomes an important channel to customers, partners and employees. Clearly mastering the security issue is a key concern for organizations and a challenge to adoption. Vordel is delivering API Gateway technology today to respond to this need, bridging mobile applications into the enterprise, via the Cloud.
About the survey: The survey was conducted by Vordel, an SOA and Cloud Services provider.The survey results were based on a sample pool of 78 respondents from 50 organizations (Fortune 5000 firms and Government Agencies). The typical respondents were Enterprise Architects, Senior IT Manager and Chief Security Officers. Date of poll -- May 19, 2011.
Contact: http://www.vordel.com
Additionally, 26 percent of respondents felt that integration complexities were a challenge. This is to be expected as programming for mobile apps uses such lightweight protocols as REST and JSON, whilst the enterprise application development environment is characterized by enterprise applications such as SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft .NET, which tend to support heavyweight standards such as SOAP, rather than REST and JSON.
Other interesting data gleaned indicates that 53 percent of organizations are currently deploying mobile applications to customers with 47 percent deploying applications to employees and 24 percent deploying to partners. Of note, 29 percent said they were planning to deploy mobile applications, but had not done so at this time. Additionally, 18 percent did not have any current deployment plans.
Comment from Hugh Carroll, VP Marketing at Vordel: The survey results demonstrate that organizations need to govern the mobile app channel as it increasingly becomes an important channel to customers, partners and employees. Clearly mastering the security issue is a key concern for organizations and a challenge to adoption. Vordel is delivering API Gateway technology today to respond to this need, bridging mobile applications into the enterprise, via the Cloud.
About the survey: The survey was conducted by Vordel, an SOA and Cloud Services provider.The survey results were based on a sample pool of 78 respondents from 50 organizations (Fortune 5000 firms and Government Agencies). The typical respondents were Enterprise Architects, Senior IT Manager and Chief Security Officers. Date of poll -- May 19, 2011.
Contact: http://www.vordel.com
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Growing Trust in Cloud Computing As Businesses Achieve Measurable Value
Global and regional trends in cloud computing adoption and usage reveal the importance of both infrastructure and workloads in considering a cloud computing model, according to a survey.
Findings:
-- Cloud computing is maturing rapidly, with 70 percent of respondents indicating they are either using or currently investigating cloud computing for remotely hosted applications or to store data
-- Of those organizations that have deployed cloud solutions, 60 percent reported that they are already seeing business value
-- Among current cloud users, 92 percent stated that infrastructure was an important part of their decision to move to a cloud computing model
As cloud adoption continues to increase, so does the value of the data that lives in the cloud. Sixty-three percent of those using the cloud to host data estimated they store more than $250,000 worth of data in the cloud, and by evaluating this survey field alone as a sample of the industry at large, it can be estimated that billions of dollars in active data currently lives in the cloud.
This new era of IT is being driven by the CIO, head of IT or IT director more than 50 percent of the time, placing a huge amount of importance on the technology at the core of the cloud. Ninety-two percent of respondents currently using the cloud stated that infrastructure was important in their decision to adopt cloud computing, dispelling the myth that cloud customers do not care to know about the physical servers housing and running their data. Global private sector respondents also identified the workloads they believe most suited potentially for cloud computing as email, finance/accounting and Web serving, in that order.
With such a clear level of importance placed on the IT infrastructure of the cloud, it is imperative for vendors to move beyond the hype and talk about the real issues at the core of the cloud. Email, finance/account and web serving are all fast-growing workloads in the cloud, yet have significantly different compute demands. AMD is taking the lead in approaching cloud computing from a workload-based model that provides differentiated solutions based on the unique requirements of the cloud provider and customer.
The survey also found that local and federal mandates are having a significant impact in accelerating cloud adoption. In the U.S., public sector respondents felt government policies have accelerated a move to the cloud more than twice as many times as those who felt it has decelerated adoption, primarily citing the shift as a way to reduce costs. Nearly half of the worldwide public sector respondents indicated budget restrictions are driving a more rapid adoption of cloud solutions.
One key hurdle that still remains for the public sector to fully embrace cloud computing is having the necessary IT skills in-house to support the deployment of cloud solutions. Currently, 43 percent of public sector respondents did not feel they had the skills in place to support cloud versus only 23 percent in the private sector.
Other findings:
-- Seventy-four percent of U.S. organizations are using or investigating cloud solutions, followed by 68 percent in Asia and 58 percent in Europe
-- Nearly 1 in 10 organizations in the U.S. estimate they store more than $10 million worth of data in the cloud. However, 63 percent of global respondents still view security as one of the greatest risks associated with the model
-- For those currently using the cloud, 75 percent had the necessary IT skills to implement the solution versus only 39 percent of those who are currently investigating cloud today
-- Cloud users are able to access their services primarily via a PC (90 percent), followed by smartphone (56 percent), tablet (37 percent) and thin client (32 percent)
Comment from Patrick Patla, general manager and vice president, Server and Embedded Divisions: Based on the findings of this global study, AMD believes it is time for the industry to re-shape the way we think about cloud technology. The findings point to the fact that while the era of cloud computing has arrived, there are radically different attitudes, approaches, concerns and levels of maturity depending on business environment. As an industry, we must provide clear guidance about how to optimize hardware and software for all types of clouds, focusing on custom parts for specific workloads that are prevalent in the cloud and the appropriate balance of performance, power and cost efficiency they require.
About the survey: The survey was conducted by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) among IT decision makers in public and private sector organizations in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Contact: http://www.amd.com
Findings:
-- Cloud computing is maturing rapidly, with 70 percent of respondents indicating they are either using or currently investigating cloud computing for remotely hosted applications or to store data
-- Of those organizations that have deployed cloud solutions, 60 percent reported that they are already seeing business value
-- Among current cloud users, 92 percent stated that infrastructure was an important part of their decision to move to a cloud computing model
As cloud adoption continues to increase, so does the value of the data that lives in the cloud. Sixty-three percent of those using the cloud to host data estimated they store more than $250,000 worth of data in the cloud, and by evaluating this survey field alone as a sample of the industry at large, it can be estimated that billions of dollars in active data currently lives in the cloud.
This new era of IT is being driven by the CIO, head of IT or IT director more than 50 percent of the time, placing a huge amount of importance on the technology at the core of the cloud. Ninety-two percent of respondents currently using the cloud stated that infrastructure was important in their decision to adopt cloud computing, dispelling the myth that cloud customers do not care to know about the physical servers housing and running their data. Global private sector respondents also identified the workloads they believe most suited potentially for cloud computing as email, finance/accounting and Web serving, in that order.
With such a clear level of importance placed on the IT infrastructure of the cloud, it is imperative for vendors to move beyond the hype and talk about the real issues at the core of the cloud. Email, finance/account and web serving are all fast-growing workloads in the cloud, yet have significantly different compute demands. AMD is taking the lead in approaching cloud computing from a workload-based model that provides differentiated solutions based on the unique requirements of the cloud provider and customer.
The survey also found that local and federal mandates are having a significant impact in accelerating cloud adoption. In the U.S., public sector respondents felt government policies have accelerated a move to the cloud more than twice as many times as those who felt it has decelerated adoption, primarily citing the shift as a way to reduce costs. Nearly half of the worldwide public sector respondents indicated budget restrictions are driving a more rapid adoption of cloud solutions.
One key hurdle that still remains for the public sector to fully embrace cloud computing is having the necessary IT skills in-house to support the deployment of cloud solutions. Currently, 43 percent of public sector respondents did not feel they had the skills in place to support cloud versus only 23 percent in the private sector.
Other findings:
-- Seventy-four percent of U.S. organizations are using or investigating cloud solutions, followed by 68 percent in Asia and 58 percent in Europe
-- Nearly 1 in 10 organizations in the U.S. estimate they store more than $10 million worth of data in the cloud. However, 63 percent of global respondents still view security as one of the greatest risks associated with the model
-- For those currently using the cloud, 75 percent had the necessary IT skills to implement the solution versus only 39 percent of those who are currently investigating cloud today
-- Cloud users are able to access their services primarily via a PC (90 percent), followed by smartphone (56 percent), tablet (37 percent) and thin client (32 percent)
Comment from Patrick Patla, general manager and vice president, Server and Embedded Divisions: Based on the findings of this global study, AMD believes it is time for the industry to re-shape the way we think about cloud technology. The findings point to the fact that while the era of cloud computing has arrived, there are radically different attitudes, approaches, concerns and levels of maturity depending on business environment. As an industry, we must provide clear guidance about how to optimize hardware and software for all types of clouds, focusing on custom parts for specific workloads that are prevalent in the cloud and the appropriate balance of performance, power and cost efficiency they require.
About the survey: The survey was conducted by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) among IT decision makers in public and private sector organizations in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Contact: http://www.amd.com
Virtualization Of Data Centers Presents Challenges For Application, Network Security
IT departments are turning to virtualization, with half of the respondents having either implemented or are planning to deploy private clouds, but they are facing inherent challenges that arise when applications are decoupled from the physical resources they rely on, introducing new obstacles such as traffic bottlenecks, inconsistent network policies and security loopholes, according to a survey.
Sixty-two percent are planning or engaged in data center upgrades, many due to increased use of virtualization. Additionally, 29 percent report that scaling server virtualization is a concern and 32 percent report that bandwidth and traffic engineering are pressing issues. The results show that virtualization comes at a cost and that traditional networking architectures are not always best-suited to handle the demands of a virtualized environment. Application security can fail when subjected to data center-wide server virtualization and application mobility.
IT departments view targeted attacks and security breaches as the biggest threats to the next-generation data center. When asked to rate security challenges, 77 percent rate threat protection (i.e., intrusion prevention) as "critical" or "important". Twenty-six percent view targeted attacks as their biggest concerns and 24 percent think security breaches are their biggest concerns. However, although half are relying on the same security model for virtualization they used with physical servers, 18 percent have not decided this is the best approach when securing virtual servers.
Forty percent said that moving virtual machines is challenging because it introduces operational complexity and 25 percent indicated a concern with securing trust boundaries.
Comment from Rees Johnson, senior vice president and general manager for network security, McAfee: Companies investing in full scale virtualization are now running into network and security challenges. Data centers have to be upgraded for the stringent demands of virtualization. Brocade and McAfee have partnered to address the key roadblocks for data center virtualization, providing new ways to ensure agility and efficiency in the network while providing comprehensive security services. Virtualization, especially in the context of private clouds, introduces unique operational and security challenges. The ability to move virtual machines is essential to creating flexible virtual data centers, yet this same flexibility introduces operational complexity and makes it much more difficult to maintain traditional trust boundaries.
About the survey: McAfee commissioned the study conducted by Network World. The study surveyed 100 IT professionals and security decision makers in North American companies with 500 or more employees.
Contact: Click here.
Sixty-two percent are planning or engaged in data center upgrades, many due to increased use of virtualization. Additionally, 29 percent report that scaling server virtualization is a concern and 32 percent report that bandwidth and traffic engineering are pressing issues. The results show that virtualization comes at a cost and that traditional networking architectures are not always best-suited to handle the demands of a virtualized environment. Application security can fail when subjected to data center-wide server virtualization and application mobility.
IT departments view targeted attacks and security breaches as the biggest threats to the next-generation data center. When asked to rate security challenges, 77 percent rate threat protection (i.e., intrusion prevention) as "critical" or "important". Twenty-six percent view targeted attacks as their biggest concerns and 24 percent think security breaches are their biggest concerns. However, although half are relying on the same security model for virtualization they used with physical servers, 18 percent have not decided this is the best approach when securing virtual servers.
Forty percent said that moving virtual machines is challenging because it introduces operational complexity and 25 percent indicated a concern with securing trust boundaries.
Comment from Rees Johnson, senior vice president and general manager for network security, McAfee: Companies investing in full scale virtualization are now running into network and security challenges. Data centers have to be upgraded for the stringent demands of virtualization. Brocade and McAfee have partnered to address the key roadblocks for data center virtualization, providing new ways to ensure agility and efficiency in the network while providing comprehensive security services. Virtualization, especially in the context of private clouds, introduces unique operational and security challenges. The ability to move virtual machines is essential to creating flexible virtual data centers, yet this same flexibility introduces operational complexity and makes it much more difficult to maintain traditional trust boundaries.
About the survey: McAfee commissioned the study conducted by Network World. The study surveyed 100 IT professionals and security decision makers in North American companies with 500 or more employees.
Contact: Click here.
Cloud Computing Adoption Growing In China, Hong Kong
Cloud computing adoption is on the rise in Hong Kong and China, according to a survey. Results showed that 20 percent of enterprises plan to use it for non-mission-critical IT services this year, doubling the number from last year. Meanwhile, the number of enterprises that plan to use cloud for mission-critical services rose from 7 percent to 11 percent, and those that do not use cloud for any IT services has decreased by 6 points to 41 percent.
The survey also found that 40 percent of the information security and IT audit professionals in Hong Kong and China believe the risk of employees using personal mobile devices for work activities outweigh the benefits, with 33 percent believing that mobile devices owned by employees pose the greatest risk, compared to 29 percent who chose work-supplied flash drives as riskiest. More than 70 percent of respondents reported that their enterprises have a security policy in place for mobile computing, yet, 39 percent believe that there is a need to update or better communicate theirs. In light of this, 35 percent view that increasing risk awareness among employees is the most important action that enterprises should take to improve IT risk management.
The survey also looked at what IT professionals thought about their enterprises' staffing requirements. With information security and risk management becoming increasingly important for businesses, there is no surprise that a high percentage (64 percent) of respondents expects their organization's staffing needs for information security to increase over the next 12 months, with 59 percent expecting the need to add risk management staff.
Comment from Michael Yung, president of the ISACA China Hong Kong Chapter: With the China economy growing at a rapid pace, enterprises' needs for agility and scalability have never been greater. Cloud computing certainly fits the bill, and there is no surprise to see cloud adoption increasing so quickly here. Many C-suite decision makers have commissioned their IT professionals to carefully assess the applicability and analyze the risk against benefits for deploying cloud technology. The next 12 months will be interesting, as a number of them will start to deploy cloud computing in areas they think will reap benefits to the organizations. Today, enterprises need to place stronger emphasis on and better align three levels of governance, namely corporate, IT and data governance. They hold the key to the mitigation of cloud-related risks.
About the survey: ISACA polled 2,765 ISACA members from around the world, including 80 members in Hong Kong and China, in March 2011.
Contact: http://www.isaca.org
The survey also found that 40 percent of the information security and IT audit professionals in Hong Kong and China believe the risk of employees using personal mobile devices for work activities outweigh the benefits, with 33 percent believing that mobile devices owned by employees pose the greatest risk, compared to 29 percent who chose work-supplied flash drives as riskiest. More than 70 percent of respondents reported that their enterprises have a security policy in place for mobile computing, yet, 39 percent believe that there is a need to update or better communicate theirs. In light of this, 35 percent view that increasing risk awareness among employees is the most important action that enterprises should take to improve IT risk management.
The survey also looked at what IT professionals thought about their enterprises' staffing requirements. With information security and risk management becoming increasingly important for businesses, there is no surprise that a high percentage (64 percent) of respondents expects their organization's staffing needs for information security to increase over the next 12 months, with 59 percent expecting the need to add risk management staff.
Comment from Michael Yung, president of the ISACA China Hong Kong Chapter: With the China economy growing at a rapid pace, enterprises' needs for agility and scalability have never been greater. Cloud computing certainly fits the bill, and there is no surprise to see cloud adoption increasing so quickly here. Many C-suite decision makers have commissioned their IT professionals to carefully assess the applicability and analyze the risk against benefits for deploying cloud technology. The next 12 months will be interesting, as a number of them will start to deploy cloud computing in areas they think will reap benefits to the organizations. Today, enterprises need to place stronger emphasis on and better align three levels of governance, namely corporate, IT and data governance. They hold the key to the mitigation of cloud-related risks.
About the survey: ISACA polled 2,765 ISACA members from around the world, including 80 members in Hong Kong and China, in March 2011.
Contact: http://www.isaca.org
SMB Cloud Services Adoption In Western Europe Expected To Double
Spending by Western Europe's 11 million small and medium businesses on cloud services is set to grow at a CAGR of 12.6 percent between now and 2015, according to a study.
Adoption of cloud services (SaaS, IaaS and Managed Services) will double. A key contributor to the impetus of the Cloud is the proliferation of mobile devices, according to a new market study by New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners.
Nearly two thirds of SMBs equip their employees with smart phones for business purposes, and tablet computers are also experiencing very rapid uptake, according to the study. 8 percent of SMBs plan to purchase over 1.5 million tablets for their businesses in the next 12 months, the study also found. Collaborative working services such as hosted document sharing and UC (conferencing, messaging and presence) are provoking the highest level of future interest.
Comment from Hugh Gibbs, VP Research at AMI in EMEA: The phenomenal expansion of mobile devices in the consumer world is having its effect on the SMB workplace. Users now want to take the things they can do in their private lives into their professional working practices: for example, accessing email, simple internet apps and social networking sites, or checking availability of colleagues -- and to do so wherever and whenever they need to. The cloud model's flexible payment model (pay per user per month) makes access to technology affordable for resource-constrained small and medium businesses. But equally important is that the cloud model eases and speeds up implementation of technology. 70 percent of European small businesses have no dedicated IT staff resources to draw on. So passing the responsibility for delivering applications to a skilled service provider who manages the whole process is not just attractive, for many, it now makes adoption possible. For hard-pressed mid-market IT departments, mobile and remote access to company IT resources presents huge security and administrative headaches. Outsourcing these workloads to service providers in more secure environments, managed 24x7 by dedicated and skilled staff, is also making great sense.
About the studies: AMI's 2010-2011 State of SMB Cloud Services Market studies are based on over 1,500 interviews with key SMB business and technical decision makers in Western Europe.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
Adoption of cloud services (SaaS, IaaS and Managed Services) will double. A key contributor to the impetus of the Cloud is the proliferation of mobile devices, according to a new market study by New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners.
Nearly two thirds of SMBs equip their employees with smart phones for business purposes, and tablet computers are also experiencing very rapid uptake, according to the study. 8 percent of SMBs plan to purchase over 1.5 million tablets for their businesses in the next 12 months, the study also found. Collaborative working services such as hosted document sharing and UC (conferencing, messaging and presence) are provoking the highest level of future interest.
Comment from Hugh Gibbs, VP Research at AMI in EMEA: The phenomenal expansion of mobile devices in the consumer world is having its effect on the SMB workplace. Users now want to take the things they can do in their private lives into their professional working practices: for example, accessing email, simple internet apps and social networking sites, or checking availability of colleagues -- and to do so wherever and whenever they need to. The cloud model's flexible payment model (pay per user per month) makes access to technology affordable for resource-constrained small and medium businesses. But equally important is that the cloud model eases and speeds up implementation of technology. 70 percent of European small businesses have no dedicated IT staff resources to draw on. So passing the responsibility for delivering applications to a skilled service provider who manages the whole process is not just attractive, for many, it now makes adoption possible. For hard-pressed mid-market IT departments, mobile and remote access to company IT resources presents huge security and administrative headaches. Outsourcing these workloads to service providers in more secure environments, managed 24x7 by dedicated and skilled staff, is also making great sense.
About the studies: AMI's 2010-2011 State of SMB Cloud Services Market studies are based on over 1,500 interviews with key SMB business and technical decision makers in Western Europe.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
43 Percent of Enterprises Have Had Security Issues With Cloud Service Providers
Most enterprises are apprehensive about adopting cloud computing, mainly because of security issues with cloud service providers.
Nearly half (43 percent) of enterprise IT decision makers reported a security lapse or issue with their cloud provider within the last 12 months, according to a recent global cloud security survey.
The survey confirmed that, on the whole, enterprises are moving toward the cloud at a brisk pace and are initiating a giant multiplicative wave of new deployments. Although slightly over 10 percent of the respondents currently have cloud computing projects in production, close to half are either implementing or piloting new cloud applications.
Despite cloud computing's growing popularity in most countries, confusion is still at play among enterprises, some of whom don't recognize what cloud computing services are. When presented with a list of cloud computing services, 93 percent of the respondents said they are currently working with at least one of them. And yet, 7 percent of the same respondents said that their company has no plans to deploy any cloud computing service - a contradiction.
While security is still the major hindrance toward cloud adoption, more enterprises are now perceiving performance and availability of cloud services to be of near-equal consideration. According to the survey, the top barriers respondents see in adopting cloud computing services are: Concerns over security of data or cloud infrastructure (50 percent) and performance and availability of cloud service (48 percent).
When it comes to safeguarding sensitive data stored in the cloud, enterprises turn to encryption. 85 percent of respondents(2) said they encrypt data stored in the cloud. And before taking the plunge into cloud adoption, more than half of survey respondents said they would be more likely to consider a cloud provider if encrypted data storage were included in the offering. Nevertheless, most commonly used encryption key management techniques used in the cloud today are vulnerable.
Comment from Dave Asprey, vice president of cloud security, Trend Micro: Based on our data, we see about 5 times more cloud applications coming online in the next few years, yet 43 percent of existing cloud users had a security incident last year. On top of that, some respondents didn't even know they were using the cloud, much less securing it. Given that many cloud service providers do not adequately add IT resources to security, the reality is that securing your cloud environment is not an option, it's a necessity.In the past, security concerns were the primary inhibitors to cloud adoption. Now, performance and availability have equal influence over IT decision makers. As we witnessed in recent data breach incidents, everything is linked - poor security causes downtime, as well as bad performance.
About the survey: The global survey was conducted by TrendMicro among 1,200 U.S., UK, Germany, India, Canada and Japan IT decision makers (200 respondents from each of the six countries). These professionals, from enterprises with over 500 employees, make purchase decisions for cloud computing services, server virtualization or Virtual Desktop infrastructure (VDI) solutions.
Contact: http://www.trendmicro.com/cloud
Nearly half (43 percent) of enterprise IT decision makers reported a security lapse or issue with their cloud provider within the last 12 months, according to a recent global cloud security survey.
The survey confirmed that, on the whole, enterprises are moving toward the cloud at a brisk pace and are initiating a giant multiplicative wave of new deployments. Although slightly over 10 percent of the respondents currently have cloud computing projects in production, close to half are either implementing or piloting new cloud applications.
Despite cloud computing's growing popularity in most countries, confusion is still at play among enterprises, some of whom don't recognize what cloud computing services are. When presented with a list of cloud computing services, 93 percent of the respondents said they are currently working with at least one of them. And yet, 7 percent of the same respondents said that their company has no plans to deploy any cloud computing service - a contradiction.
While security is still the major hindrance toward cloud adoption, more enterprises are now perceiving performance and availability of cloud services to be of near-equal consideration. According to the survey, the top barriers respondents see in adopting cloud computing services are: Concerns over security of data or cloud infrastructure (50 percent) and performance and availability of cloud service (48 percent).
When it comes to safeguarding sensitive data stored in the cloud, enterprises turn to encryption. 85 percent of respondents(2) said they encrypt data stored in the cloud. And before taking the plunge into cloud adoption, more than half of survey respondents said they would be more likely to consider a cloud provider if encrypted data storage were included in the offering. Nevertheless, most commonly used encryption key management techniques used in the cloud today are vulnerable.
Comment from Dave Asprey, vice president of cloud security, Trend Micro: Based on our data, we see about 5 times more cloud applications coming online in the next few years, yet 43 percent of existing cloud users had a security incident last year. On top of that, some respondents didn't even know they were using the cloud, much less securing it. Given that many cloud service providers do not adequately add IT resources to security, the reality is that securing your cloud environment is not an option, it's a necessity.In the past, security concerns were the primary inhibitors to cloud adoption. Now, performance and availability have equal influence over IT decision makers. As we witnessed in recent data breach incidents, everything is linked - poor security causes downtime, as well as bad performance.
About the survey: The global survey was conducted by TrendMicro among 1,200 U.S., UK, Germany, India, Canada and Japan IT decision makers (200 respondents from each of the six countries). These professionals, from enterprises with over 500 employees, make purchase decisions for cloud computing services, server virtualization or Virtual Desktop infrastructure (VDI) solutions.
Contact: http://www.trendmicro.com/cloud
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