The vast majority of senior executives worldwide say their organizations have already moved at least some business activities to the Cloud and expect 2012 investment to skyrocket, according to KPMG’s global cloud study.* According to the report 81% of businesses are either planning, are in early or advanced stages of experimentation or already have full-on cloud implementations. Almost one quarter of executives said their organization already runs all core IT services on the Cloud (10 percent) or is in transition to do so (13 percent).
Tudor Aw, KPMG’s head of technology in the UK comments: “What the survey shows is that ‘cloud’ is becoming more of a business and not just a technology conversation. In these harsh economic times, cloud computing should be considered by all companies that strive to reduce costs. Cloud adoption is quickly shifting from a competitive advantage to an operational necessity, enabling innovation that can create new business models and will impact the long-term growth opportunities and competitiveness of businesses.
The survey’s respondents were made up from organizations that either will use the Cloud or provide Cloud services.
Other key findings of the report:
- Economic factors were cited by 76 percent of both groups as an important driver for Cloud adoption
- 80 percent said the switch to Cloud was driven by efforts to improve processes, offering more agility across the enterprise
- 79 percent of Cloud users and 76 percent of providers said the Cloud provided technical benefits and in some cases improvements that they otherwise could not gain from their own data centers
- 76 percent said the use of Cloud would have strategic benefits, possibly including transforming their business models to gain a competitive advantage
Security most important concern
Executives whose companies use or intend to use a Cloud strategy agree that spending will rise significantly in 2012. According to the survey, 17 percent of corporate executives said Cloud spending would exceed 20 percent of the total IT budget in 2012.
Half of the IT executives at companies where Cloud is or will be adopted say security is the most important challenge or concern, compared with 42 percent of the business unit executives. Among the Cloud provider community, business unit executives (29 percent) shared equal concerns about performance with their IT counterparts (30 percent).
Other findings:
-
IT governance was a top challenge among 22 percent of the IT leaders, but cited by just 17 percent of the business users;
-
Nearly a fifth (19 percent) of IT executives said loss of control over customer data was a perceived top challenge, compared with 14 percent of respondents among their operations counterparts
-
Regulatory compliance was a top challenge among 16 percent of the business executives, compared with just 10 percent of the IT leaders.
Cost savings crucial
Survey respondents agree that Cloud must offer a number of benefits before it can gain full momentum in their organization. For example, 75 percent of total respondents globally said they need to show potential cost savings to justify a move into the Cloud. More executives from Asian-Pacific countries (86 percent) said that cost savings are key, than their counterparts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (72 percent) or the Americas (71 percent).
*About the Survey
KPMG’s global cloud study “Clarity in the Cloud: the impact, opportunity and risk of cloud” canvassed 806 senior executives in 15 countries from February to April 2011, in companies that use or plan to use Cloud, as well as 123 executives from Cloud service providers.
-Ends-
For further information please contact:
Katrin Boettger, Senior PR Manager
Tel: +44 207 896 4232
Email: Katrin.boettger@kpmg.co.uk
About KPMG:
KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, is a subsidiary of KPMG Europe LLP and operates from 22 offices across the UK with nearly 11,000 partners and staff. The UK firm recorded a turnover of £1.6 billion in the year ended September 2010. KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax, and Advisory services. We operate in 150 countries and have more than 138,000 professionals working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"), a Swiss entity. KPMG International provides no client services.
About KPMG International:
KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services. We operate in 150 countries and have 138,000 people working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such.
