Cloud computing apps are set to become much more popular by 2014, with Latin America and Asia-Pacific leading the way. Currently, large companies in emerging markets are the most aggressive adopters of cloud computing, while their European and U.S. counterparts remain more conservative about deciding to shift applications to the cloud.
Companies in Latin America and Asia-Pacific have a much higher proportion of their applications in the cloud already, according to a study by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which polled senior managers and corporate IT executives from more than 600 large companies across the globe.
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The survey also revealed that user confidence in the cloud differs significantly between public and private entities; users in the U.S. and Europe remain more cautious about depending upon the cloud for mission-critical and customer data storage. More than one-third of their budgets are spent on customer-facing business functions.
The average Latin American company has almost two-fifths (39%) of its total applications in the cloud, followed by Asia-Pacific with 28%. In contrast, 19% of the average U.S. company’s applications are hosted in the cloud, while in Europe the amount is just 12%.
Overcoming the fear of security risks remains the key to adopting and benefiting from cloud applications, analysts say. Users in the U.S. and Europe remain especially conservative in their approach to cloud adoption for the fear of data security breaches, noted the study.
Only a fifth (20%) of U.S. and European companies would consider or seriously consider placing their most critical applications in a public cloud. Yet, two-thirds of U.S. (66%) and almost a half of European companies (48%) would consider placing core applications in private clouds. Companies in Europe and in the U.S. showed the most reluctance to place customer data in the cloud.
