The Clarity in the Cloud report shows an increased readiness to accept and exploit the benefits of cloud.
Most agree that cloud offers strategic benefits, and these look likely to transform business models to offer serious competitive advantage.
The vast majority of executives surveyed expect investment in 2012 to dramatically increase, with some organisations planning to spend more than a fifth of their IT budget on cloud next year.
- Over half of those surveyed have already conducted either a full (24 percent) or partial (35 percent) cloud implementation of some functions. The vast majority has tested these new technologies and processes and are using them on a small scale.
- The majority of early adopters are 'getting their feet wet' using basic, available tools in the cloud. Forty-six percent of planned implementations are in the SaaS environment.
- Eighty-seven percent say, at the very least, the change will be significant.
- Most believe that cloud will deliver cost savings. But while providers promote up to 30 percent of savings, most business executives would be happy with 10 to 15 percent savings.