IBM Tech Trends Report: Yes, Cloud Adoption Is Growing

IBM has released its 2011 Tech Trends Report, and since you’re reading this on TalkinCloud, you can probably guess what it says. Cloud adoption is on the rise, with 75 percent of those surveyed planning on building cloud infrastructure over the next two years. Here’s the scoop:

IBM polled 4,000 IT pros in 93 countries and 23 industries for the report, which measures the top trends in technology (hence, the name). Here are the key findings, which include major momentum in cloud computing, business analytics and social networking, among others:

• Eighty-seven percent of respondents believe open source and open standard technologies will play a key role in the future of application development.
•  During the next two years more than 75 percent of organizations will engage in cloud computing.
• Fifty-one percent of respondents cited the adoption of cloud technologies as part of their mobile strategy.
• Regional cultural differences impact social business adoption. India is strongly embracing social business with a 57 percent adoption rate, followed by the United States with a 45 percent adoption rate and China with a 44 percent adoption rate. Russia shows the strongest resistance with a 19 percent adoption rate.

Interestingly, IBM put its own offerings in all those categories on the back burner, merely promoting the concepts.

“The results are clear. Mobile computing, cloud computing, social business and business analytics have gone beyond niche status and are now part of any modern organization’s core IT focus,” said Jim Corgel, general manager ISV and Developer Relations for IBM in a prepared statement. “IT professionals who can develop the skills needed to work across these technologies will be ready to meet growing business demand in the coming years.”

Okay, there was a little self-promotion: IBM Business Partners, Big Blue said, can use any of the company’s Innovation Centers to enhance their skills.