A new survey from Irish IT services provider Auxilion reveals that 73% of IT leaders in Ireland admitted a cloud outage would be “catastrophic” for their business, with a similar proportion (77%) worried about such an occurrence. The same survey highlights that 84% of businesses expect to have fully migrated all their systems, applications and data to the cloud within the next three years.
The research – carried out by Censuswide and involving more than 200 IT decision makers in large enterprises across Ireland – found that some 77% of organisations are already in the cloud. Hybrid cloud was found to be the most popular choice among the companies already using cloud, with 22% of respondents believing it to be the future. Meanwhile, 21% think public cloud is the future.
Furthermore, 84% of businesses expect to have fully migrated all of their systems, applications and data to the cloud within the next three years/almost three quarters (73%) of IT leaders in Ireland admitted a cloud outage would be “catastrophic” for their business, with a similar proportion (77%) worried about such an occurrence.
The most cited reason for adopting cloud computing was reducing costs (32%), as the vast majority (81%) of IT decision-makers revealed that cloud is a more cost-effective approach.
While it may be helping to control costs, investment in cloud looks set to increase with two thirds (67%) planning to up their cloud spend over the next 12 months and the average investment estimated to be €1.84 million.
In fact, cloud ranked top of the list for IT investment over the next 12 months (45%), followed by IT service desk (45%), Artificial Intelligence (42%), green technology (42%) and cybersecurity (41%). On the topic of green technology, almost three quarters (74%) of organisations are currently using same.
It appears that IT leaders see cloud and sustainability going hand in hand, with 78% saying cloud is important in helping their organisation achieve ESG goals and 27% citing sustainability as a reason for using cloud computing. Moreover, almost three quarters (74%) of IT leaders said sustainability is a priority for their customers.
Donal Sullivan, Chief Technology Officer, Auxilion, said: “These results show that cloud infrastructure has become a critical aspect in the digital ecosystem for businesses, and it’s not just being adopted for cost, connectivity and collaboration purposes. It is also being deployed for sustainability purposes – as that area becomes ever more important for both businesses and their customers.
“Regardless of the reasons or the cloud infrastructure of choice, companies need to ensure they are using and adopting an approach that meets their business needs, optimises performance and protects their interests. Working with trusted partners can help to maximise the return on cloud investment and help to deliver better value, as well as drive success.”