Channel Firms Must Work To Catch Up To Cloud
Security fears and inadequate infrastructure investments also shake IT confidence, says new report
New research released today indicates that IT consultants are too hardware focused, and need to focus more on cloud solutions.
That’s according to a study by cloud applications provider Intermedia, which reports that almost a quarter of IT decision makers (ITDMs) questioned feel that VARs and MSPs still don’t put enough emphasis on cloud solutions.
The survey reported cloud applications have overtaken on-premises applications; it says on average, 56 percent of internal IT applications currently run in the cloud. Thirty-seven percent of ITDMs expect to increase this number over the next six months.
Investment fears
Elsewhere, ITDMs expressed concern about the resources available to them for countering cybersecurity threats and meeting current and future business demands, revealing an overall ‘Confidence Score’ of 7.2 out of 10 when questioned.
The research also suggests IT investments are inadequate for current and future business needs. Relative to infrastructure spending, ITDMs gave an IT Confidence Score of 6.5, indicating that companies may not be investing enough.
“Given the critical role IT plays in underpinning business today, a Confidence Score of 7.2 is worrisome,” saud Jonathan Levine, CTO at Intermedia. “You wouldn’t feel comfortable boarding an airplane if the pilot had a 7.2 confidence level in the plane’s airworthiness. This modest confidence suggests that organisations may be more exposed than leaders realise. We’ll be watching closely to see if further cloud adoption helps improve confidence, or if the insufficient attention given to IT concerns today will further erode confidence in the coming year.”
The Index revealed a contrast in overall confidence levels with small companies with fewer than 50 employees (Confidence Score of 5.9) versus medium to large companies, which had higher Confidence Scores (8.7 and 8.9, respectively). As company size and cloud adoption increased, so did confidence levels.
Michael Gold, CEO of Intermedia, said: “Consistently, IT professionals at smaller companies measured as less confident than larger ones, expressing concerns about their ability to protect and support their organisations. This uncertainty presents MSPs with a real opportunity to help SMBs that don’t have the resources to run IT on their own.”