Study: 50% Say Moving To Cloud Is Top Digital Priority In 2015

Written by Christopher Tozzi
March 3, 2015

A new survey says 36 percent of respondents said the cloud was their most important consideration in planning digital business initiatives this year, and, for half, moving to the cloud is their top digital priority for 2015

A recent survey from 2nd Watch found that the cloud is extremely important to digital sales and marketing. According to the report, which was released Feb. 26, 36 percent of respondents said the cloud was their most important consideration in planning digital business initiatives this year, and, for half, moving to the cloud is their top digital priority for 2015. That’s no surprise, given the attractiveness of the cloud to consumers, and the flexibility that cloud computing provides to companies providing products and services.

Yet, the fact that moving more completely to the cloud is something so many businesses still plan to do, rather than a task they have already completed, is significant. It suggests that, even though analysts have been hyping the cloud for several years, many enterprises remain entrenched in business models that do not make extensive use of cloud technology.

Overall, only 22 percent of the survey’s respondents indicated that they have already adopted a “cloud first” policy, compared to 59 percent who use a combination of on-premise and cloud-based digital resources.

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The survey pointed to several reasons for the relatively low rate of cloud adoption. One factor is the difficulty of provisioning new infrastructure, which, according to 44 percent of respondents, can take up to three months to complete. Capital may also be an issue: Only 35 percent of the enterprises surveyed planned to devote more than half of their budget this year to digital initiatives.

On the other hand, the survey made clear that companies see obvious value in extended use of the cloud. Thirty-eight percent of respondents believe the most important impetus for investing in the cloud is to improve customer service, and 27 percent said it is to increase revenue.

The survey was conducted in the last week of January and first week of February and included nearly 500 responses, according to 2nd Watch, all from IT and business executives in the United States.