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Google study: Examining how cloud trust relates to business performance

(c)iStock.com/Vernon Wiley

Cloud technology can create positive business outcomes for businesses – but only if the organisation is willing to foster business transformations that leverage what the cloud offers.

That is the key finding from a report published by The Economist and sponsored by Google on how trust in cloud computing correlates with business performance.

The report, which is based on a global survey of more than 450 executives in 10 countries across five continents, finds 38% of enterprise IT is currently based on cloud-based technology, with the figure expected to grow to 45% by 2019. Despite this, trust in cloud technology remains muted, with only 16% of those polled indicating ‘very high trust’ in the cloud.

Despite this comparative lack of trust – although more than half (52%) of those polled noted an increase in overall cloud trust –  almost all (99%) of respondents report use of at least some cloud services in their organisation. Respondents who say their company has higher trust in the cloud report much better outcomes in both financial and non-financial success metrics.

Yet trust in the cloud does not grow organically. The report advocates three primary elements that will help businesses engage further:

  • C-suite support for cloud initiatives. The survey argues that at organisations with low levels of cloud trust, management is the most common barrier to the adoption of cloud technologies. “The C-suite alone cannot instil trust in cloud technology, but without its help such confidence may not develop,” the report notes.
  • Introducing cloud services with an eye to building trust. High profile improvements can help build trust across an organisation, the report notes, as well as simpler, quick win solutions. This was one of the keys to Siemens building their trust in cloud.
  • Go further than simply educating employees. Training in new tools is one thing, but for ‘deep change management’, as the report puts it, pushing people to use their new tools in a creative way will be more fruitful.

You can find the full report here (no registration required).