Michael Friedenberg, President and CEO of IDG Enterprise, shares data from our recent survey on cloud computing that shows actual adoption is well under way. For a few years now, everything we’ve heard about cloud has mostly been hype. It’ll be the next transformational leap for technology, the pundits said. It will cut complexity, improve flexibility and make IT more strategic to business, the vendors said. It’s going to be so great when it gets here, the marketers said. But what a pleasant surprise: Cloud computing really did arrive. Actual adoption is under way everywhere, at least to some degree. In a recent IDG Enterprise study on cloud, which surveyed 1,535 of your peers, the findings were quite conclusive. Pent-up interest is becoming full-fledged adoption. A few of the survey’s most interesting takeaways are: SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe Enterprise organizations use private cloud most often, with 23 percent now using private versus 7 percent public. Small-to-midsize businesses spend larger chunks of their IT budget on cloud, averaging 20 percent for companies with fewer than 1,000 employees. Larger enterprises are earmarking around 15 percent of their IT budget for cloud. Budgets are increasing for cloud-based services, with big companies expecting the percentage of their IT budget dedicated to cloud to increase 67 percent in the next 12 months. On average, large enterprises plan to spend $2.2 million on cloud this year. The top two business drivers for cloud adoption are business continuity and greater flexibility to ramp up or down with market demand. Least important? Saving on capital expenditures. The biggest turn-offs to adoption are security concerns (67 percent) and access to information (41 percent). So it’s clear that cloud is here to stay. The options you’ll have to evaluate will continue to multiply, and pretty soon we’ll be talking about cloud sprawl, cloud management and cloud resources as your staff readjusts to the changing industry. You can click here to download our complete IDGE Cloud Study. And as always, I love to know what you’re thinking, so drop me a line anytime. Michael Friedenberg is the president and CEO of CIO magazine’s parent company, IDG Enterprise. E-mail him at mfriedenberg@cio.com. Related content opinion The future of A.I. ethics is in our hands When so many of the world's smartest people warn us about 'killer robots' and other ethical issues inherent in artificial intelligence, we should heed their call to make sure A.I. is used for societal good By Michael Friedenberg Aug 31, 2015 2 mins Robotics opinion Beyond Moore's Law: Five technologies that will change the future IDG CEO Mike Friedenberg is watching the tech horizon and sees game-changing technologies in A.I., robotics, quantum computing and more. By Michael Friedenberg May 21, 2015 2 mins CIO 3D Printers Technology Industry opinion Security crashes the boardroom party Given the recent spate of headline-grabbing data breaches, CIOs need to be prepared to answer a lot of board questions about risk. By Michael Friedenberg Mar 30, 2015 2 mins Cybercrime Security opinion Are You Ready to Replace Yourself? CIOs rarely get to name their successors, and companies overall do a poor job of succession planning. CEO Michael Friedenberg says it's time to get serious about closing the succession gap. By Michael Friedenberg Jan 28, 2015 2 mins CIO Mentoring Careers Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe