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Tech Decision-Makers See Cloud as Key to IT's future

 
 
By Gina Roos  |  Posted 2014-09-10
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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    1 - The Future Is the Cloud
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    The Future Is the Cloud

    88% of respondents believe that cloud computing is the future model of IT. In terms of believing in the value of the cloud, 67% said they are "cloud believers," 19% said they are "unconvinced" and 13.5% need more information.
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    2 - Cloud Adoption Grows
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    Cloud Adoption Grows

    Servers/data centers, Microsoft Exchange and co-location/backup are the top three adopted cloud services. A full 81% of respondents have deployed at least one service in the cloud with organizations, on average, deploying 2.7 services.
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    3 - Cloud Deployment Plans
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    Cloud Deployment Plans

    On average, believers in the cloud deployed 3.3 services, while the unconvinced migrated only 1.4 services. However, 54% of the unconvinced expect to shift at least one service to the cloud in the next three years.
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    4 - Cloud Service on Deck
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    Cloud Service on Deck

    75% of respondents expect to add new or additional cloud services over the next three years. On deck for migration include servers/data centers (34%), co-location/backup infrastructure (22%), phone systems (22%), Microsoft Office (21.5%) and Microsoft Exchange (21%).
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    5 - Moving to the Cloud
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    Moving to the Cloud

    58% of respondents believe their IT staff can implement a cloud strategy independently; only 29% indicated that on-staff knowledge is a barrier to migrating services.
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    6 - In-House vs. Third-Party Cloud Providers
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    In-House vs. Third-Party Cloud Providers

    43.5% of companies that migrated services handled the process internally, versus 56.5% that used a third party. However, of the companies that migrated to the cloud using only internal IT staff, 24% said they would use a third party next time.
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    7 - Valued Cloud Partners
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    Valued Cloud Partners

    For companies that used a third party to migrate services to the cloud, 42.5% worked directly with a cloud service provider, 20% used a consultant/VAR, and 18% worked with a data center/infrastructure provider. Other partners included MSPs, network providers and security vendors.
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    8 - Single Cloud Provider, Please
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    Single Cloud Provider, Please

    62% of respondents prefer to rely on a single cloud provider to handle their variety of services, including servers/data centers, co-location, Microsoft Exchange, phone systems and desktops.
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    9 - Top 5 Reasons for Vendor Selection
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    Top 5 Reasons for Vendor Selection

    71.5% of respondents said price was a top factor in vendor selection, followed by security policies (65%), easy-to-use management systems (50.5%), ease of migration (49%) and availability of service-level agreements (43%).
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    10 - Selecting a Hypervisor
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    Selecting a Hypervisor

    82.5% of respondents using cloud services said VMware ESX was their hypervisor of choice; 26% deployed Citrix Xen and 6% deployed KVM.
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    11 - Disaster Avoidance and Recovery
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    Disaster Avoidance and Recovery

    73% of respondents said disaster avoidance/recovery was the number one expected benefit from the cloud. Other big benefits cited include flexibility (62%), stability (61%) and lower total cost of ownership (60%).
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    12 - Top Barriers to Cloud Remain
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    Top Barriers to Cloud Remain

    The top two concerns or barriers are security (53%) and privacy (36%). The good news is cloud adoption barriers have declined overall, compared with 2013.
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    13 - Bigger Budgets for Cloud
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    Bigger Budgets for Cloud

    Budgets for cloud services are increasing year-over-year; 42% of respondents said their budgets increased in 2014, and 54% expect an increase in 2015.
 

Cloud computing is considered to be the future of IT, according to nearly nine in 10 respondents to a survey conducted by Evolve IP, a communications and cloud services company. Of 1,250 cloud decision-makers surveyed in North America, the biggest cloud believers (70 percent) hold C-level, vice president and IT director-level positions. While the survey found IT managers still have concerns around cloud deployments, 58 percent describe themselves as cloud believers, up 5 percentage points from last year. Almost everyone seems to—or will—be adopting the cloud in one way or another. "Believers appear to be going 'all-in' while even the unconvinced are dipping toes in the pool," the study stated. Although concerns about moving to the cloud have eased, and the number of services in the cloud continues to grow, security and other challenges remain. The report also found that more than half of all businesses in the cloud used a third party to help with the migration to the cloud. Of those that managed the deployment themselves, when asked if they would do it again, 24 percent said they would outsource their next projects. This is good news for the channel, including IT distributors, managed service providers (MSPs) and VARs. Here are key findings from the cloud survey.