(c)iStock.com/Rainer von Brandis

If the goal for CIOs is to go to the cloud, one thing is holding them back, according to a new report from Trustmarque: outdated budgeting models.

The report, titled ‘Highlighting operational and financial barriers to cloud’, argues more than half (55%) of UK CIOs polled believe out of date capex models are slowing down their adoption of cloud services. An overwhelming 87% say existing software licensing agreements are another cause of delay – a higher figure than last year’s survey indicating the problem is getting worse – while 59% cite inflexibility of fixed-term and fixed-user licensing agreements.

If that wasn’t bad enough, more than three quarters (77%) of CIOs say they are finding it difficult to establish which cloud services are suitable for their organisation, while a similar number (72%) say different payment methods makes things more complicated. Half of respondents say cloud is only partly delivering on its promised benefits.

So what can be done? Naturally, Trustmarque has its own solution – a product called Cloud-ESP, which aims to provide an online portal for procurement and management of cloud services – but more widely, the need for new skills and potentially restructuring IT operations needs to be on organisations’ radar.

“The on-demand nature of cloud means unmanaged cloud can play havoc with long term financial plans,” said James Butler, Trustmarque CTO. “CIOs must ensure they retain full visibility and control over their IT estate, across SaaS, IaaS and traditionally licensed solutions, to minimise the unplanned spend that poorly managed cloud infrastructure and services can result in.

“Transitioning to the cloud, or becoming a ‘cloud-first’ business, is a sizeable task for many organisations,” Butler added. “It has taken a short period of time for cloud to become such a disruptive force, and it is likely that effect will continue into the next five years.

“The CIO of 2017 must be capable of embracing cloud while minimising unintended consequences, by succeeding in overcoming the existing barriers to cloud adoption.”

You can find out more and read the full report here.