The second annual Enterprise Cloud Study, which surveyed large Canadian business firms and IT leaders, showed businesses continue to integrate Web hosting and cloud solutions into their IT sourcing strategy.
Two thirds of companies surveyed that are currently employing cloud-based solutions and services believe they are significantly outperforming their competitors in revenue growth and profitability.
“The survey indicates that the number one priority for Canadian businesses is improving customer service. IT leaders are realizing that moving IT functions to the cloud can have a real impact on their bottom line and can help them focus on their core business, including their customers,” says Tony Krueck, vice-president, Business Solutions Marketing at TELUS. “Those who have made the move are now reaping the benefits of cloud. The IDC survey found that an impressive 81 percent of Canadian businesses reported lowering the cost of IT due to cloud adoption.”
Cloud security and data governance issues continue to inhibit cloud computing growth in some Canadian businesses, but improvements are being made.
“If we look at the results from the 2012 TELUS IDC cloud survey, the number one reason Canadian enterprises are fearful to step outside of their traditional IT comfort zone is risk,” says Mark Schrutt, IDC Canada's director of services and enterprise applications. “The good news is that this year, the majority of users said they were able to easily overcome these challenges and that cloud actually was a catalyst for improving data security.”
What does the future hold?
The IDC research shows that over the next four years cloud services will grow by 25 percent and Web hosting by 9.6 percent compared to a growth rate of 3.5 percent for the rest of the Canadian IT market.
Discuss this further in our Internet, Landline and Wireless Phone forum .
