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Cloud usage is rocketing amongst UK business users – but the final decision making falls to the head of IT or the chief information officer in almost three in five (59%) cases, according to latest research.

The research, from cloud hosting provider Cobweb Solutions, shows more organisations are turning to cloud for all their business needs, with UK cloud penetration reaching a high of 84%.

78% of businesses are using more than one cloud-based service, figures which correlate with a recent Forrester survey showing 84% of UK companies rely on two or more cloud providers, compared to Singapore (76%) and the US (62%). Half of respondents expect to eventually move their entire IT estate to the cloud.

Despite the issues with security, 99% of respondents have never experienced a breach of security when using a cloud service. The applications most likely to be stored in specific locations are accounting and finance (49%), data backup and disaster recovery (43%) and data storage (43%). 70% of respondents cited concerns over data security when moving to the cloud, with 61% concerned over data privacy.

Yet the issue over who has final say over cloud implementations is a worry for Cobweb, who argues businesses may be failing to see the “holistic potential of integrated cloud solutions”, instead just seeing cloud computing as a new delivery mechanism for software.

“Using a cloud computing solution can fundamentally enhance the way an organisation does business,” Ash Patel, Cobweb director of business transformation said in a statement, adding: “It offers the liberating ability to build entirely new services that customers and partners can easily access and make part of their daily lives.

“Making best use of this liberating technology is a question not solely for the IT team, but for the whole board of directors who can use the cloud to shape a new and more effective way of doing business.”

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