35% of Businesses Plan on Significantly Investing in the Cloud in 2017

Enough has been said about how revolutionary cloud technology can be for a business, that making the switch has become a no-brainer. Nevertheless, recent statistics are showing some odd patterns when it comes to businesses and the cloud. A flash poll conducted by InformationWeek reveals that a relatively significant 35.9 percent planned to direct their largest technology investments into cloud technologies during 2017.

This lines up to trends observed by the higher-ups at Microsoft. Executive Vice President in charge of Cloud Scott Guthrie pointed out that 75 percent of the major banking institutions now use Microsoft Azure--the company’s public cloud offering. In addition, federal agencies, enterprise-level corporations, and startups have jumped onto cloud services much more eagerly than they have in the past.

However, some of the details are oddly muddied when it comes to cloud adoption and cloud spending. In October, the International Data Corporation (or IDC) reported that total spending on cloud-deployment infrastructure components was expected to rise by 16.2 percent to total $37.4 billion by the end of 2016.

Despite this, another survey conducted by CompTIA observed that cloud service adoption may not be rising at the same rate as spending on the infrastructure necessary to support it. In fact, compared to results from a 2014 survey from CompTIA, cloud utilization had fallen in recent years. Cloud productivity tools, initially used in 63 percent of surveyed companies, had fallen to being utilized in 45 percent. Cloud-based email had slipped from 59 to 51 percent, and collaboration tools fell from 52 percent to just 39 percent.

However, IDG Enterprise, owner of many IT industry news outlets, sent out a press release in the beginning of November with the results of their own cloud computing survey, Interestingly, IDG Enterprise reports the exact opposite: according to IDG, the IT environment housed in the cloud is expected to grow within the next 18 months.

So, which outcome would be better for businesses?

The answer is simple: cloud services are a definite benefit to businesses of any size, and can provide them with definite cost savings and security bonuses, to name just a few positive effects. SCW can help you establish a cloud solution that meets your needs completely. For more information, give us a call at (509) 534-1530.