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Cloud computing 'helping to reduce IT costs'
IT News |
17/08/2012
The need to reduce expenditure in a pressurised economic environment is leading more companies and organisations to embrace cloud-based solutions, it has been suggested.
According to the latest Technology Issues Monitor from KPMG, businesses are turning to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) in particular to meet their enterprise IT requirements.
This market was worth £7.82 billion worldwide in 2011, KPMG stated. Latest projections give SaaS a value £9.21 billion by the end of 2012.
Steve Watmough, partner in KPMG's Chief Information Officer Advisory team, said that as the current economic conditions are felt across the globe, tight IT budgets are "pushing demand" for cloud computing services.
"The attraction, especially for the smaller business, lies in organisations no longer needing to find funds for infrastructure, deployment or training," he stated.
"And with an increasingly mobile workforce, there is a greater need to access data from smartphones or tablets."
Mr Watmough said SaaS allows for the integration of powerful business apps on mobile devices meaning that it is "only likely to increase in popularity with the corporate environment".
"The technology ensures employees can work on the same documents in real-time from anywhere on any internet-connected device, and all for a monthly subscription, which can be adjusted with ease," he added.
KPMG said latent concerns over security, stability and suitability have not been enough to stop growth, given the potential benefits of cloud computing.
They are however causing businesses to focus on more stringent service level agreements, contract terms and governance.
Mr Watmough concludes that security "is not where concerns stop" and customers are also increasingly emphasising 'uptime' and performance in their negotiations with suppliers.
"They want opt out clauses which weren’t so easy to secure with infrastructure investments and suppliers would be well advised to take these concerns seriously or lose out to the competition," he explained.
Posted by John Lynes
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