IT heads not in the cloud
Over half of European IT heads within businesses do not
understandcloud computing, although the method of delivering IT
is about the biggest hype in the IT industry.
But if this changes the
take-up of cloud computing will explode because the research
shows that those that are familiar with cloud computing are already
implementing it.
In a survey of 350 IT heads across Europe, carried out by Portio
Research for communications supplier Colt, 56% were not familiar
with cloud computing.
This shortfall is holding back adoption because three-quarters
of those that are familiar with cloud computing said they were
currently
rolling it out.
The public sector was the least informed about cloud computing,
with only 37% of IT decision-makers saying they are familiar with
cloud computing.
Clear advantages
Suppliers need to be clearer about the advantages of cloud
computing, according to Maggy McClelland, managing director of COLT
Managed Services, She said there is a lot of hype around cloud and
this can blur the real facts.
"The opportunity is clear: exponential growth of cloud services
will happen, but only if the industry makes large strides in
improving levels of knowledge among IT decision-makers."
The
financial services industry is an example of a sector that is
holding back from investing in cloud computing because of
uncertainty.
A recent
survey carried out by think-tank, The Financial Services Club,
said firms' reluctance is that cloud computing is being driven by
suppliers and not market demand.
"The reason why people are not going out to cloud computing,
apart from economic reasons, is that we get sold at a lot by
consultancies and vendors," said one survey respondent.