Cloud computing adoption increases in Australia: IDC

Adoption of cloud services is steadily increasing in Australia, according to the findings of an IDC enterprise cloud survey.

The survey, which is based on responses from 100 executives, found that 86 per cent were now using cloud, up from 71 per cent in 2012.

Line of business (LOB) managers in enterprises had begun to add to the CIO’s cloud spending by direct acquisition of cloud services.

According to the survey results, 69.6 per cent of respondents said their business unit selected the cloud service provider while 59.8 per cent of respondents said their IT department took this responsibility.

IDC Australia’s cloud services research senior analyst, Raj Mudaliar, said that until last year, cloud was primarily an “IT label” for infrastructure services delivered as a service.

“Cloud in 2013 is now business as usual for CIOs, IT managers, and LOB managers,” he said in a statement. “By 2015, cloud will be just another delivery model for a range of as-a-service offerings that are based on infrastructure as a service, platform as a service and software as a service [SaaS].”

Survey responses indicated that SaaS selection now focuses on industry-specific applications and process functionality to improve business performance.

In addition, hosted private cloud intentions are on the rise with standardised services as part of the package.

“It is expected that the services component will increase as larger and more complex projects get underway,” Mudaliar said.

According to IDC, the total cloud services market will grow from $884.4 million in 2012 to $2,671.9 million in 2017 at a compound annual growth rate of 24.7 per cent.

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