Cloud computing is no longer a novel concept being experimented with at the edge of the enterprise. It is now a mainstream business technology strategy that is delivering the agility and flexibility that businesses require to move forward. A new survey finds that cloud computing continues gaining converts within the enterprise, and is pushing down deep roots within companies that have deployed the approach.
Key highlights and findings from the survey, which explores cloud computing patterns within enterprises, include the following:
- A majority of respondents with private clouds are or will be running a substantial portion of their IT workloads within these environments. Thirty-eight percent now run substantial portions of their workloads in the cloud, and this number will increase to 51% within a year’s time. Private clouds are prevalent in close to two-fifths of the organizations surveyed, and public cloud adoption is accelerating—even among large organizations.
- There has been a notable surge in adoption of both private and public clouds for application hosting, development, and storage. Database platform as a service via public cloud is up three-fold over the past two years to 37%. Email and collaboration tools are the applications most used within cloud settings, and this is particularly the case with public cloud engagements. Cloud-based human resources applications are also on the rise.
- While most executives favor private clouds over public clouds because of security, private clouds are also seen as more cost effective over the long run. In addition, cost savings through consolidation is the main business benefit from private cloud deployments; higher scalability is the leading technical benefit. The ability to operate without an IT infrastructure is the most frequently cited advantage with public cloud, followed by speed to market.
- Management and oversight of both public and private clouds is mainly left to IT departments. And while there is also more reliance on outside service firms to manage private clouds, IT still is in control at three fourths of sites. A majority of organizations are boosting or maintaining both their private and public cloud budgets. However, allocating funds to private cloud ventures is still an open question, with only about one third of private cloud organizations possessing a way to monitor actual usage for chargeback purposes, or just “showback” in which costs per department or business group are illustrated.
Enterprise Cloudscapes: Deeper and More Strategic—2012-13 IOUG Cloud Computing Survey was produced by Unisphere Research in partnership with the Independent Oracle Users Group, and sponsored by Oracle.