Survey shows that cloud computing will become the main IT platform in 2014

According to foreign media reports, a survey shows that most European CIOs believe that by 2014, cloud computing will provide their main IT operations channels. Although only 16% of companies stated that they have deployed enterprise-wide cloud computing so far, 60% of respondents said that by 2014, cloud computing will become their most important IT operation method.

A study commissioned by communication provider Colt conducted a survey of 500 CIOs in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, including 100 CIOs in the United Kingdom.

The survey found that 58% of respondents stated that the ease of transition is a key challenge for cloud applications, while 55% of respondents stated that quality assurance and reasonable costs are key challenges for cloud applications. Fifty-four percent of respondents believe that security regulations and customer data control are also key challenges for cloud applications.

Mark Leonard, Colt’s executive vice president of the CIO office, said that although the full deployment of cloud services is difficult to establish, the trend is clear. Driven by the need for greater flexibility and responsiveness to the current economic climate, companies are evaluating and applying cloud services at a faster rate of year-on-year growth.

Safety is a particularly important issue for UK and German companies. The decision makers of 74% of UK companies and 70% of German companies stated that they are concerned about the security of cloud computing.

The survey shows that 46% of respondents are worried about the issue of vendor lock-in. Thirty-one percent of respondents are concerned about the geographic location of cloud providers. Private clouds are popular choices in Spain (58%), Germany (57%) and the United Kingdom (56%). People think that private clouds can eliminate security concerns, but private clouds have poor scalability and are expensive to operate.