Cloud Computing Boosts Next Generation of Startups, Survey Shows

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Joe McKendrick.

Cloud computing isn’t just potentially delivering savings and flexibility for existing organizations. It is also laying the groundwork for a new generation of business startups, a new survey finds. The study of 1,300 executives, conducted by Rackspace Hosting with support from Manchester Business School in the UK, finds cloud engagements are delivering positive impacts, from cost savings to more innovation. Interestingly, the survey also reveals that most of these executives see cloud as laying the groundwork for the next entrepreneurial boom.

Sixty-two percent of respondents either agreed totally or somewhat with the statement that “cloud computing is a key factor in the recent boom of entrepreneurs and start-ups,” the survey finds. Twenty-five percent agreed strongly with this idea…

Many respondents are speaking from experience – 43 percent of the group, in fact, say their businesses were launched just within the past three years. A majority of respondents with startups in the survey, 52 percent, said they would have not have been able to afford on-premises IT resources, or would have had difficulty acquiring computer systems, if it weren’t for cloud computing. In fact, 43 percent say the availability of cloud-based resources has made it “a lot easier” to set up their businesses…

Read more from the source @ http://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2013/02/20/cloud-computing-boosts-next-generation-of-startups-survey-shows/