Survey forecasts heavy cloud investment for majority of businesses

Cloud investment on the up
Cloud investment on the up

The almost unanimous adoption of cloud computing is on track to continue over the next three years, according to a recent survey by SAP and the Oxford Economic Briefing. The report's findings indicate moderate-to-heavy cloud investment is very much the plan.

Of the 200 executives surveyed in late 2014, 99% admitted that cloud computing is part of their company's business strategy today and 69% expect their company to make moderate-to-heavy cloud investment over the next three years.

What will be in the cloud though? Within three years almost every respondent replied that innovation, R&D and supply chain will be "somewhat or mostly" cloud-based and one-third (33%) said that choosing cloud computing has had a transformative effect on the business. Fifty-nine percent of respondents stated that they utilize the cloud to better manage and analyze data, anytime and anywhere.

Security still an issue

Only 18% of respondents said that the security of corporate data in the cloud was a concern. Respondents' biggest worries are identity theft (48%), security of IP (46%) and security of API and interfaces (44%).

The 200 executives surveyed worked for companies headquartered in 11 countries including the US, Brazil, Germany and China, and were made up of C-level executives, business-unit heads, and IT and operations executives representing firms from a number of sectors.