FRAMINGHAM, MA--(Marketwired - Nov 17, 2015) - IDG Enterprise -- the leading enterprise technology media company, composed of CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, ITworld and Network World -- brings to light cloud computing usage and future plans, investment goals and business drivers from its 2015 Cloud Computing survey. Currently, 72% of organizations have at least one application in the cloud, but they are not done exploring cloud's potential (Click to Tweet). As digital transformation moves budgets from keeping the lights on to innovation, it is no surprise that 56% of organizations are still identifying IT operations that can move to the cloud.

Cloud Continues as Tech Powerhouse
As cloud continues its mainstream adoption, an increasing number of companies are placing their computing infrastructure and applications into the cloud. Organizations have a variety of cloud models they can use, each providing specific benefits. Rising from 57% in 2014, 61% of cloud users are utilizing private cloud, followed by public (58%) and hybrid (26%), which rose from 19% in 2014. There is no indication that this movement will slow down anytime soon since only 36% of organizations have identified all of the IT operations they are comfortable moving to the cloud.

"We are in a time where every organization must structure themselves to be fluid and flexible to adapt to market needs and changes, and cloud proves to be a fundamental component of that," said Brian Glynn, chief revenue officer of IDG Enterprise. "As cloud capabilities and offerings continue to mature and tech departments get their legacy systems in order, this creates opportunities for cloud users and vendors to innovate, whether it be proposing new solutions or upgrading current ones to meet the needs of businesses today."

Embracing Cloud Initiatives
It's no surprise that cloud spending remains strong as adoption of cloud models continue to thrive. One-quarter of total IT budgets will be allocated specifically to cloud computing within the next 12 months, and the average organization will invest $1.56 million on this technology. The majority of this spending is fueled by cloud computing being able to lower total cost of ownership (43%), enable business continuity (43%), increase speed of deployment (41%), and replace on premise legacy technology (40%). Although business continuity is tied as a top overall goal, it drops to sixth for enterprise organizations, who put greater importance into replacing legacy technology. (View infographic).

In order to meet these business objectives, organizations have clear adoption plans. The cloud purchase process is collaborative with multiple influencers; however the CIO or top IT executive leads this collaborative process (73% significant influence). Following the CIO in influence is the CTO/architect/engineer (55%), CSO/CISO or head of IT security (48%) and IT management (47%). When looking at the different steps within the purchase process, executive IT leads the beginning and end (determining the business need and the approval stage), while the evaluation stages are heavily influenced by IT management and IT professionals.

Growth in Emerging Cloud Tools
With the unlimited potential of cloud's possibilities, it is not surprising that emerging tools are launching and competing for budget dollars. Cloud models such as SaaS, PaaS and IaaS still remain the top service models, but deployment of Storage-as-a-Service, Disaster-Recovery-as-Service and Monitoring-as-a-Service models will grow over the next 12 months. Currently, 43% of organizations have deployed Storage-as-a-Service models with 29% planning on deploying; whereas 25% have already deployed Disaster-Recovery-as-a-Service, and 34% of organizations have plans to over the next year.

Not only are organizations investing in upcoming as-a-service models, they are utilizing emerging tech to integrate their current solutions and workloads into the cloud. Nearly all (90%) of enterprise organizations are using APIs (Application Programming Interface) in their cloud integration plans. Due to their ability to easily let one application component connect with another, organizations of all sizes are using APIs to varying degrees. Enterprise organizations (organizations with 1,000+ employees) are more apt to integrate with databases, messaging systems, portals or storage components with 58% of enterprises utilizing vs 52% SMB (less than 1,000 employees), connect the application-layer with the cloud and underlying infrastructure (48% & 38% respectively), and for network configurations (32% & 21% respectively).

Security & Integration: Key Issues that Cloud Vendors Must Be Aware of
As with the majority of technologies today, security is resoundingly the top concern for cloud computing. Up from 61% in 2014, and higher among finance organizations (78%), 67% of organizations have concerns about the security of cloud computing solutions. The additional challenges are not even on the same playing field for tech decision-makers; only 43% are concerned with integration, followed by the ability of cloud solutions to meet enterprise and/or industry standards (35%). Given their high security concerns, organizations are integrating strategies and tools to lessen these challenges over the next 12 months. Technologies that will soon be seen as part of the cloud strategy include cloud management and monitoring tools, and cloud security management tools.

With security the top barrier to implementing a cloud strategy, it is understandable that more than half (54%) of organizations say they need to be sure their cloud service providers' solutions meet their security and compliance requirements before they make any further cloud commitments. This is a greater issue for enterprise organizations compared to SMBs (62% vs. 48%). Vendors must also be aware that businesses are looking for simplicity, especially with the various services and models today. Up from 26% in 2014, 34% of organizations want their vendors to find a way to simplify access to multiple cloud services before they can fully embrace cloud computing.

To create value and investment, private and public cloud vendors must be able to support a lower total cost of ownership, enable business continuity and replace on premise legacy technology. Beyond the top three necessities, vendors will benefit greatly if they show their solution will improve customer support/services, enable innovation and increase speed of deployment.

About the 2015 IDG Enterprise Cloud Computing Survey
IDG Enterprise's 2015 Cloud Computing Survey was conducted among the audiences of six IDG Enterprise brands (CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, ITworld and Network World). The survey fielded online with the objective of understanding organizational adoption, use-cases, and solution needs with respect to cloud computing. This was a targeted research effort, to be considered qualified respondents must have reported cloud utilization was planned or currently leveraged at their organization. Furthermore, respondents must have reported personal involvement in the purchase process for cloud solutions at their organization.

To discuss opportunities for receiving additional data, please contact Sue Yanovitch at
syanovitch@idgenterprise.com.

About IDG Enterprise
IDG Enterprise, an International Data Group (IDG) company, brings together the leading editorial brands (CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, ITworld and Network World) to serve the information needs of our technology and security-focused audiences. As the premier high-tech B2B media, data and services company, we leverage the strengths of our premium owned and operated brands, while simultaneously harnessing their collective reach and audience affinity. We provide market leadership and converged marketing solutions for our customers to engage IT and security decision-makers across our portfolio of award-winning websites, events, magazines, products and services.

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