Enterprise Cloud Adoption Increasing: Verizon Report

Enterprises are using the cloud for more and more of their operations, increasing the amount of cloud-based storage and changing their security needs, according to a new report from Verizon.

In its ‘State of the Enterprise Cloud Report’, the company found that enterprise use of cloud-based storage has increased by 90 percent during the period between January 2012 and June 2013. This is largely due to the shift to putting more business-critical applications in the cloud. According to the report, organizations are now running external-facing and critical business applications in the cloud, with production applications now accounting for 60 percent of cloud usage.

“Enterprise cloud has reached a tipping point,” according to the report. “Organizations have seen the benefits cloud can provide—both in efficiency and cost—and are ready to move an increasing number of mission-critical applications to cloud-based infrastructure. However in order for this to happen, cloud service providers must deliver to enterprise-grade availability and security.”

Overall, enterprises increased the amount they spend on cloud per month by 45 percent.

According to a survey of 300 IT professionals by Voltage Security released at the InfoSecurity Europe conference earlier this year, 76 percent of senior-level IT and security respondents said the inability to secure data across big data initiatives concerned them and 56 percent said those concerns kept them from adopting cloud or big data technology.

Many organizations are adopting a hybrid approach that allows them to enjoy some of the advantages of the cloud while keeping greater control over some of their data, the report notes. This is particularly attractive option for the public-sector, as well as companies that are subject to strict security or regulatory policies, according to the report. 

“Security and related compliance requirements are driving hybrid cloud growth in the enterprise and public sector, and require increased focus on your cloud provider’s data center,” blogged Kevin King, external communications director for Verizon Enterprise Solutions. “Moreover, growth in big data will drive cloud adoption as a result of the increasing demands and volumes associated with data management and analysis.”