The Cloud

“In a new global survey of nearly 1,500 business and technology leaders conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, the majority — 85% — said their organizations will be using cloud tools moderately to extensively over the next three years. They cited the cloud’s ability to increase business speed and agility, lower costs, and enable new means of growth, innovation, and collaboration as the drivers for this fairly aggressive rate of adoption. A small group of early adopters (only 7% of respondents have been using cloud computing for more than five years) said cloud technology has already provided them with real business value and advantage, including faster time to market and speed to effectiveness, lower cost of operations, and the ability to acquire and integrate new operations more quickly and easily. These benefits are becoming more widely recognized; more than half of respondents (57%) believe that cloud will be a source of competitive advantage for early adopters, and 26% described their company’s posture toward cloud as enthusiastic. But for others, the speed of adoption is slower because executives say they have yet to gain a full understanding of the benefits and risks of cloud computing, and they have concerns about security, business continuity and compli­ance issues. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they are using limited or no cloud services today, and 36% described their company’s posture toward cloud as either cautious or resistant.”