Security Is Chief Obstacle To Cloud Computing Adoption, Study Says

By Tim Wilson
DarkReading
Nov 25, 2009

Nearly half of organizations say they have no plans to use any cloud computing technologies in the next year -- and security concerns are the chief reason why.

That's the conclusion of a survey that will be published next month by Launchpad Europe, a company that helps emerging firms with global business expansion.

In the survey, 49.5 percent of businesses said they are not using or planning to use any cloud technologies within the next 12 months. Of that group, 50 percent cited "security concerns" as the primary reason.

"Budgetary restraints" was the second-biggest reason for avoiding the cloud -- 21.4 percent of respondents said tight budgets precluded them from migrating to cloud-based services. Less than 5 percent cited a lack of available cloud technology to meet their particular needs.

The results suggest security eclipses most other criteria when organizations are considering cloud services vendors, Launchpad Europe said. Thirty-eight percent of respondents said their top priority when considering cloud vendors was "security of the cloud infrastructure."