Oracle Research: Enterprises say the cloud delivers faster innovation

More than 90 percent of EMEA enterprises believe the cloud enables them to “innovate faster”, new research from Oracle reveals. The study, conducted by IDG Connect on behalf of Oracle, questioned 450 C-Level execs and IT decision makers.

The study found that half (51 percent) of businesses will have reached “cloud maturity” within two years, while the concerns and considerations around moving to the cloud have evolved.

For hybrid cloud adoptions, traditional barriers, such as concerns over security, are being displaced by operational concerns such as managing multiple IT architectures and network bandwidth. Those building private cloud infrastructures continue to see security as the prime concern.

Respondents also cited “winning the support of key business decision-makers” as the most important building block of successful private and hybrid cloud infrastructures, suggesting that influence on cloud deployments extends beyond IT into broader business functions.

Oracle said the CIO’s role is “more important than ever” in coordinating multiple architectures and effectively communicating the benefits of cloud deployments to the wider business.

Key findings from the research include:

· 92 percent of respondents say that the cloud enables them to innovate faster; 73 percent said it helps to retain existing customers; and 76 percent said it helps them to win new customers

· One-in-five businesses (19 percent) have reached “cloud maturity”, with more than half (51 percent) saying that they will reach maturity within two years

· Respondents identified the most important building blocks for successful hybrid cloud deployments as winning the support of key business decision-makers (29 percent), cost efficiency (25 percent) and building a strong relationship with a supplier (22 percent)

· The biggest barriers to hybrid cloud adoption are managing multiple IT architectures (60 percent), network bandwidth (57 percent) and relationships with IT suppliers (52 percent)

Johan Doruiter, Oracle’s senior vice president of systems in EMEA, said: “As cloud rapidly reaches maturity, we are seeing a shift in how enterprises perceive the chief benefits and barriers to adoption. Traditional areas of high concern such as data security and reliability are moving down the list and these are actually cited as key benefits of cloud adoption by most enterprises.”

He said: “These traditional concerns have been replaced by the operational worries, including how to manage multiple IT architectures and ensuring networks have sufficient bandwidth. For enterprises that are reaching maturity with their cloud deployments, it’s increasingly important to be able to manage public, private and hybrid deployments through a single, consolidated view.”

Oracle recently launched a new global cloud partner programme. The Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Cloud Program is designed to help partners accelerate the growth of their Oracle Cloud business by providing them with technical and go-to-market support.

@AntonySavvas