SMB Cloud Survey Shows Changing Attitudes Toward the Cloud

In 2012, cloud computing can finally be described as a force in IT rather than an upcoming trend, and opinions on the subject are changing accordingly. In a new survey of small and midsize businesses, the changing face of the cloud is on display as old fears fall by the wayside and cloud adoption seems almost universal.

The Cloud Survey

The survey was conducted by Business Web Hosting Plans and asked 500 small and midsize business customers about their cloud experience and fears. The goal was to shed some light on how businesses are adopting the cloud now that it is no longer a tech buzzword and to find out what obstacles still hinder cloud adoption.

When asked how long ago they began using cloud computing, the most common answer was a surprising 30 months. The implication is clear, if your business doesn't have at least some kind of cloud computing plan, you stand to be left behind.

The survey also looked at challenges that businesses are facing when adopting the cloud. As recently as a few months ago, issues like reliability, complexity, and interoperability topped the list in similar surveys, but that all seems to be changing. Now, as this PRWeb article discusses, security stands alone as the largest barrier to cloud adoption, with the other reasons falling by the wayside. Most of this can be attributed to cloud providers making cloud adoption as easy as possible, and the issue of cloud security is simply one area where cloud providers can only do so much.

Cloud Survey Implications

Granted, this cloud survey was performed by a company that offers cloud-based solutions, so the numbers aren't completely indicative of the SMB market as a whole. However, the results can be used to gain some insight into how cloud computing has transformed over the past few years.

With the vast majority of customers reporting that they have been active in the cloud for over two years, there could be serious issues for companies who are just now starting to consider cloud-based solutions. Even if the surveyed companies used small consumer-focused cloud apps like Google Docs, they have certainly gained invaluable knowledge into how the cloud can transform their business and will be better able to adopt more robust cloud solutions in the future.

Perhaps the most important finding from the survey is the fact that all obstacles outside of security seem to be falling by the wayside. Issues like interoperability and reliability were always major concerns about cloud computing, but it looks like the major players in the field, like IBM, Rackspace, and Amazon, have done a great job in ensuring that these issues are no longer first in people's mind when they think of the cloud.

Of course, the issue of data security still persists, and despite the survey takers assurances, there are still some major issues in this area. While security solutions can be put into place, if you are taking advantage of the elasticity of the public cloud, your data will have to be processed by a third party, making it inherently less secure. At this point in time, all businesses, save those who are contractually or legally bound to keep all customer data in house, need to look past the mild security issues of the cloud. More and more businesses are taking advantage of cloud computing, and delaying any longer may result in your business being left behind.