Report: Cloud option makes enterprises more agile and cost competitive

A recent survey conducted by KPMG found many business and government executives expect their organizations to adopt the cloud within the next two years.

Of the 174 executives, middle managers and staff from these businesses, 79 percent believe the cloud is an option that will make enterprises more agile and cost competitive. Meanwhile, 74 percent of respondents stated those companies adopting the cloud can experience long-term competitive advantages.

When the respondents were asked which four factors typically drive a company toward a managed IT service, such as cloud computing, 84 percent rated scalability and security as important or extremely important. Next, 78 percent said economics, such as cost savings and shifting capital expenditures to operational expenditures, are important. Meanwhile, 76 percent said functional items, such as capabilities and accessibility, are important, and 66 percent rated strategic factors, such as business process transformation and speed to market, as important.

“The survey results reflect wide acceptance of cloud-based services among executives, who are increasingly recognizing the cloud’s strategic business value," said Steve Hill, KPMG’s national innovation leader. "Those surveyed also said that experimentation will be required to fully understand the value of cloud-based operations, and this approach, they noted, will bring challenges that need to be addressed."

In addition to businesses, public consumption of the cloud is increasing rapidly. Revenue for the public cloud is expected to reach $29.5 billion by 2015, according to IDC.