A new research report has revealed that concerns about cloud data security are reducing, but only 14% of IT directors and managers think their cloud provider offers a service agreement that meets the needs of their organisation.
ANS Group, the company behind National Cloud, commissioned Vanson Bourne to speak to senior IT decision makers in large and mid-sized public and private sector organisations.
Over half (52%) of IT decision makers in large organisations think that storing their data in the cloud is more secure than storing in-house. Almost a quarter (24%) say that using the cloud reduces IT administration costs and 42% see the benefit of reduced hardware infrastructure costs.
However, the findings point to concerns about the selecting a cloud provider and the service levels offered.
A fifth of respondents (20%) see a lack of support from their cloud service provider as a concern during the migration process and, according to National Cloud and ANS Group, there is work to be done to strengthen the support offered to client organisations.
Paul Sweeney, National Cloud and ANS Group managing director, said: “We’re at the tipping point for many IT directors. 69% told us that they would justify a move to cloud computing for their organisation on the basis that it will reduce operational IT costs and free up in-house resource.
“So although they can clearly see the benefits of migrating IT functions to the cloud and are keen to realise the associated cost savings and efficiencies, trust and confidence are still big issues to overcome.”
“It used to be that data security was the major barrier, but it appears that confidence in service providers is perhaps a bigger issue for organisations.
“All cloud providers need to provide the highest levels of service to ensure that client organisations have full confidence in them to safeguard their data and systems in a cloud environment.”
Founded in 1996, ANS Group has grown to become an award-winning cloud expert with annual turnover of more than £50m. The company launched its National Cloud offering last year - a complete range of ‘As-a-Service’ offerings from Infrastructure to Backup using its 10GB network and its data centres in Manchester and London.
National Cloud and ANS Group, recently joined the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) – supporting the CIF’s work to promote high standards and transparency within the cloud services sector, as well as sharing best practise among members.