Every company will adopt cloud computing in the near future, and even now a lot of enterprises don’t know it, but they are using some kind of cloud services. According to consultancy firm Gartner, 70% of companies with more than 1,000 employees have not yet started a cloud initiative. Security, lack of compliance reporting and auditing and quality assurance hold them back. “The cloud is in its infancy, it’s bright new,” said Gene Phifer, Gartner’s VP. Nevertheless, he highlighted that cloud computing is growing very rapidly and getting mature quickly. In two or three years, this adoption percentage will be 90%, said Phifer.
During its X Enterprise Technologies Summit, in São Paulo, Gartner noted that globally around 30% of companies are currently evaluating cloud adoption and nearly 20% are planning to implement a cloud strategy within 18 months. Although estimated cost savings are pushing many of them into the cloud, it is not likley the only driver. In some cases, the opposite happens and enterprises spend more money. “Agility should be the first reason to invest in cloud,” said Phifer. He explains that the use of resources shift from capability on demand to capacity on demand.
Before jumping to adopt cloud services, enterprises have to understand what is appropriate to put in the cloud. “Some of them are very capable to classify their data, but others don’ have a clue. For those who don’t have clue I say: go to cloud providers and evaluate if they are good enough,” warned Phifer. An important issue to look at is related to risks and responsibilities of cloud service providers in order to make sure that they have backups businesses will need as well as disaster recovery plans.
Phifer also pointed out that small and medium companies (SMB) are most likely to jump into cloud computing because they can have the same level and type of IT service without needing to allocate an IT professional or build a huge infrastructure. “There’s a lot of opportunity in SMB market as well as in companies located in growth areas, such as Latin America, because they need more capacity,” he said.
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