Recent research by a security and risk firm, WideAngle, NTT Com
Security, reveals that cloud adoption is currently progressing much more slowly
than UK businesses would like.
Issues with regulation, data protection and legislation have been
blamed by more than a quarter of respondents to the survey. Almost a third
claimed that the effect on their cloud adoption has been significant, while 29%
said that they had been somewhat affected.
The study polled individuals in the UK, North America, Germany,
Scandinavia, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong. The UK is one of the most affected
countries, with 86% of respondents revealing that they have ‘significantly’
slowed cloud adoption, compared to an average of 76%.
Some industries appear to be even more affected than others.
Financial services (36%), petrochemicals (27%) and healthcare (27%)
organisations were those most likely to be reducing their cloud take-up.
Legislation and compliance issues were the key reasons given, with many
respondents admitting to being frustrated by the lack of clarity around cloud
usage.
The UK figures speak for themselves: 42% of respondents plan to
transition to the cloud within two years, with a further 18% after that.
Data laws in the UK are increasingly complex, which means it’s
becoming progressively more difficult for businesses to take on the benefits of
cloud, while feeling they can negate the assumed risks. Tom Salkield, Director
UK professional services at WideAngle, commented that the UK takes a different
stance to cloud than other countries, in that a conservative approach hampers
further development.
“Businesses in the UK risk lagging behind because they are not
exploiting the opportunity and potential of cloud computing to the full,” said
Salkield to Computer Weekly. Benefits such as business agility and significant
cost savings are just a couple of the reasons cloud is, slowly but surely,
becoming more mainstream. 40% of UK respondents accredited an increase of
revenue to cloud, while 23% saw an increase in profits from adopting cloud
computing into their organisation.
North America is leading the way for both early adoption of cloud
services (28%) and pursuing innovation (59%), with the UK trailing at the end of
the list.
Have you found that cloud sales have slowed across the UK, or are
your customers more interested than ever in exploiting this opportunity?
View our latest sales opportunities
across the UK here.
