Majority of enterprises now have some cloud presence

Grazed from FierceEnterprise Communications. Author: David Weldon.

If they haven’t already established a presence in the cloud, a vast majority of organizations are certainly considering it, according to new research from International Data Group (IDG). In its recently released report, "Cloud Computing: Key Trends and Future Effects," IDG found that 61 percent of enterprises have at least one application that is cloud-based in their organizations today. That number is up from 57 percent in 2012. Another 24 percent of enterprises plan to implement a cloud application within the next 12 months, and an additional 15 percent are planning to do so within one to three years.

The IDG report is significant for two reasons: its survey base (1,358 respondents, with 58 percent from the executive level); and the number of companion publications participating in the research: Computerworld, CIO, InfoWorld, ITworld, CSO and Network World. The survey was intended to investigate "how enterprises continue to struggle with security, integration and governance, while finding immediate value in collaboration and customer relationship management," according to the study report…

Driving the movement to the cloud are four top motivators, the survey found: enabling business continuity (cited by 43 percent); greater flexibility to reach changing market conditions (noted by 40 percent); speed of deployment (selected by 39 percent of respondents); and improving customer services (cited by 38 percent)…

Read more from the source @ http://www.fierceenterprisecommunications.com/story/majority-enterprises-now-have-some-cloud-presence/2013-08-28