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More than two thirds of businesses plan to increase their cloud computing spending in 2017, according to a new report from B2B research provider Clutch.<\/p>\n
The report, which polled 283 IT professionals at businesses across the United States, also found that for almost half (47%) of organisations, increased cost is a key challenge with their cloud provider.<\/p>\n
48% of those polled said they expect to increase their cloud computing spend by 11%-30% this year, compared to 14% of respondents for a 31-50% increase. 23% said they expect their spending to remain approximately flat.<\/p>\n
“Cloud is the new normal,” said Jeremy Przygode, CEO of managed service provider Stratalux. “When businesses need to evaluate new solutions, or need to do a hardware refresh on existing solutions… cloud is the go-to solution to figure out how to do that.”<\/p>\n
45% of respondents said security was the biggest benefit of using the cloud, ahead of increased efficiency (41%), more data space (40%), flexibility (33%) and scalability (28%).<\/p>\n
Przygode argues the transition towards public cloud is an ‘inevitability’. “I believe that all roads lead to public cloud eventually,” he said. “Different companies have different pathways to it.<\/p>\n
“Some are going directly to public cloud; others are trying to build a private cloud first because they still want to retain control. But ultimately I believe that over time they will eventually become public cloud customers as well.”<\/p>\n
Only 37% of respondents said they are using a public cloud today, compared with 68% for private cloud, and 47% for hybrid cloud. Kevin Rubin, president and COO of Stratosphere Networks, explained: “When you go with a hybrid solution, you have to make sure as a company it’s engineered properly to gain access to it.<\/p>\n
“It’s a little bit more challenging – but customising your cloud experience allows [a business] to leverage different toolsets that are truly drilled down to their department, their individuals, and how they do business.”<\/p>\n