Poll Says 28 Percent of U.S. Organizations Are Using Cloud Computing
Twenty-eight percent of U.S. organizations are using cloud computing today, a CDW poll found, with most reporting (73 percent) that their first step into the cloud was implementation of a single cloud application.
While many organizations (84 percent) say they have already employed at least one cloud application, most do not yet identify themselves as cloud users who are implementing or maintaining cloud computing, the report says. CDW defines cloud computing as a model for enabling convenient, on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned.
Applications most commonly operated in the cloud are commodity applications such as email (50 percent of cloud users), file storage (39 percent), web and video conferencing (36 and 32 percent, respectively), and online learning (34 percent).
Respondents estimated that, on average, only 42 percent of their current services and applications have potential to operate in the cloud. Even the respondents who identified themselves as cloud users – currently implementing or maintaining cloud computing – said they expect to spend no more than one-third of their IT budget (34 percent) on cloud computing by 2016, and at the same time, to save 31 percent of their IT budget by using cloud resources and applications. Non-cloud users said they expect to spend slightly more than one-quarter of their IT budget (28 percent) on cloud computing by 2016, and to save 23 percent by using cloud computing resources and applications.
Among current cloud users, 84 percent said they cut application costs by moving to the cloud. On average, cloud users report saving 21 percent annually on those applications moved to the cloud.
The CDW Cloud Computing Tracking Poll includes findings specific to each of the eight industries surveyed during March 2011: small businesses, medium businesses, large businesses, the Federal government, state and local governments, healthcare, higher education and K-12 public schools.
For a copy of the complete CDW 2011 Cloud Computing Tracking Poll, visit http://www.cdw.com/cloudtrackingpoll
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