RSSCloud Computing Survey: IT Leaders See Big Promise, Have Big Security Questions
Cloud computing has become the most over-hyped tech buzzword this year, but CIO's new survey of IT leaders shows that despite security concerns, enterprises see real promise for flexibility and savings from the cloud.
Applications That Call Out for Cloud Options
What specific applications are leading you to use or actively research cloud offerings? Collaboration apps rank as early winners, according to our survey results. A significant portion of you are also trying to figure out the server and storage on demand equations now. And a surprising 54 percent of respondents mentioned ERP as on the radar or in use—notable since ERP apps often represent the most mission-critical and expensive applications to the business.
"Like every other technology, it (cloud computing) has its place," wrote one respondent to our survey. "Mobile access, non-mission-critical capabilities, and general support functions (provisioning, e-mail, etc.) are easy targets."
| On the radar/actively researching | Currently using or implementing | Planning to use next year | Planning to use one to three years | Planning to use three to five years | No plans to use | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application platforms & development software (web servers, design tools) | 27% | 34% | 4% | 3% | 2% | 30% |
| Collaboration tools (wikis, web conferencing) | 17% | 50% | 8% | 4% | 4% | 17% |
| Enterprise application software (CRM, ERP, Supply Chain, BI) | 19% | 35% | 4% | 5% | 3% | 34% |
| Personal productivity software (word processing, e-mail, spreadsheet) | 22% | 23% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 43% |
| Utilities/management software (anti-virus, spam filters, desktop management) | 21% | 33% | 5% | 7% | 2% | 32% |
| Networks | 16% | 27% | 4% | 5% | 2% | 45% |
| Servers | 18% | 32% | 4% | 5% | 2% | 39% |
| Storage | 22% | 31% | 6% | 4% | 7% | 30% |
What's Stopping You: Security and Control Concerns
A whopping 45 percent of you cite security as the top concern surrounding cloud computing at your enterprise. And you've been through blockbuster tech waves like the ERP revolution, so it's not surprising that you're already worrying about integration issues with existing systems and cloud computing.
| Security | 45% |
| Integration with existing systems | 26% |
| Loss of control over data | 26% |
| Availability concerns | 25% |
| Performance issues | 24% |
| IT governance issues | 19% |
| Regulatory/compliance concerns | 19% |
| Dissatisfaction with vendor offerings/pricing | 12% |
| Ability to bring systems back in-house | 11% |
| Lack of customization opportunities | 11% |
| Measuring ROI | 11% |
| Not sure | 7% |
| Other | 6% |
SOURCE: CIO Research
As we've recently reported, cloud computing will rely on virtualization to quite an extent. The economics demand it for cloud vendors to succeed. Yet such basic issues as moving virtual machines between physical servers with processors from differing vendors (AMD and Intel) have yet to be resolved by the industry. And when you start talking about making customer data easily portable between different cloud service providers, even industry vets give wishy-washy answers right now. Microsoft has its own vision for solving the problem, a vision heavily dependent on client OS power. VMware has another vision. Bottom line: It's early and the integration questions are real.
As has been the case with SaaS offerings from the start, availability and performance worries still register, with almost a quarter of you citing them in our survey.
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