State of the Cloud Report

Last week we shared an article, “Boost Profit and Cut Costs with the Cloud!”, where we discussed some benefits of cloud computing that were supported by a recent study conducted by Rackspace Hosting and Manchester Business School.  Today, we have another interesting study to share with our readers: Silver Linings and Surprises, CDW’s 2013 State of the Cloud Report. 

This study was conducted by CDW, a leader in the fields of information technology products, expertise, and services.  The CDW report is based on the views of 1,242 IT professionals surveyed by CDW. It explores what drives the shift to the cloud, what types of applications organizations are taking to the cloud and what benefits (beyond cost savings) they are achieving.

Cloud Adoption

One interesting finding of this survey was the upward trend of cloud adoption rates.  As you can see from the chart below, organizations in the implementation or maintenance stage of a cloud solution has grown from 28% in 2011 to almost 40% in 2012.  The budget expectations for cloud related expenditures is also climbing steadily.

Savings and Expectations

When CDW asked survey respondents “What percentage of your organization’s IT budget do you currently save or expect to save using cloud resources and applications?” they found the current savings had grown from 10% in 2011 to 13% in 2012. And, cloud users consistently projected higher savings in both 2011 and 2012 than did non-cloud users.  While this is positive news, CDW’s survey also found that the cloud does much more than simply reduce costs.  For example, organizations implementing or maintaining cloud computing point to increased efficiency (55 percent), improved employee mobility (49 percent), increased ability to innovate (32 percent) and freeing current IT staff for other projects (31 percent) as the top benefits. Reduced IT operating costs come in fifth on the list of benefits (25 percent).  Below is a slide from the CDW report illustrating this:

 

Cloud Implementation Roadmap

One final useful feature of the CDW report is the recommendations for organizations that are in the discovery and planning phases of a cloud solution:

 

  • Tap a cross-section of your stakeholders for a thoughtful analysis of benefits and costs, and then select a cloud strategy consistent with your IT service fulfillment model.
  • Launch first with services that don't pose unacceptable risks to your organization, aren't business critical and where complexity of implementation is low (storage, unified communications and office productivity apps, for example).
  • Leverage your user's familiarity with consumer cloud offerings to maximize the success of cloud adoption.
  • Independent software vendors will bring new features to market faster with cloud applications, so follow those changes closely.
  • Start planning today; understand your internal "cost to serve" per application, which will help determine ROI for public cloud solutions.
  • When working with cloud providers, look for contracts that establish and enforce service levels and security standards.
  • Work with a software-licensing expert to clarify and resolve issues affecting applications your organization wants to move to the cloud.

 

Are you thinking about a cloud solution for your organization? Contact The Vested Group today to schedule a demo or discuss your cloud computing options.  We have offices in Dallas, TX and Tampa, FL ready to work with you!

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