Cloud security Confidence index has fallen slightly in the past year

A firm shift to cloud computing

The increase in cloud budgets is due to the fact that it faces the challenge of security and ROI (ROI).

CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, IT World,network World surveyed 1358 customers and concluded that cloud services are enabled differently depending on enterprise size, application, and industry.

This conclusion demonstrates the true idea and practice of it procurement staff in an enterprise that is enabled or planning to enable cloud services: For an application or a part of the cloud infrastructure, it is paramount to secure the cloud of enterprise information.

At the same time, those who support cloud services believe that one of the most important considerations in deciding whether to invest in the cloud is to reduce it costs, which is still hard to achieve in reality.

The findings also show that while it and information security executives can be expected to use the cloud more frequently than others, most companies choose to continue using a hybrid computing environment.

The survey also showed that the number of investigators intending to transfer it processes to the cloud in the next five years was slightly higher than in 2012, reaching 29%, compared with 27% in 2012.

At the same time, the number of respondents claiming to be limited to private cloud (18%) and SaaS (software as a service) (7%) is decreasing. Large enterprises with more than 1000 employees have more conservative attitudes towards public clouds than small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 1000 employees.

Public cloud warming up

The survey found that 69% of respondents were willing to deploy data, applications or infrastructure on private clouds, while 59% per cent preferred to deploy them on public clouds. The average number of deployments of an enterprise IT environment on a private cloud is twice times the deployment of the IT environment on a public cloud, with a ratio of 28% and 14%, respectively. Only 28% of respondents used the community cloud (Community Cloud), the most common use being education and browsing for High-tech information.

The survey predicts that over the next 18 months, the number of businesses using the three services of private cloud, public cloud and community cloud will grow.

Respondents expressed the hope that in 2014, their IT environment could have more than 1/3 (about 36%) deployed on private cloud, and 1/5 IT environments deployed on public cloud. SMEs are more willing to deploy their IT environments to public clouds than large enterprises.

When asked, what cloud mode would be selected when moving to a multiple application state? More than half of respondents said they tended to choose public or private public mix (such as hybrid and community cloud) cloud services for collaboration, conferencing, customer relationship Management (CRM), email and phone center business. Therefore, respondents ' choices also indicate that they are satisfied with existing products and suppliers.

At the same time, organizations are more likely to use proprietary private cloud models to enable application services, such as compliance management, data storage/management, data security, and other factors affecting it processes, key line (business) data, or complex business processes deployed on private clouds.

Even if you don't start with the application software aspect, most companies are still planning to move their business to the cloud. Cooperation, meetings, mail and HR technology are ranked first in the application list, these are the main business content that the enterprise considers transferring at present. When an enterprise chooses a SaaS (software as a service) application provider, customization opportunities, performance, and data security are the most important factors for the enterprise.

At the same time, companies are considering investing in IaaS (infrastructure and services) and PAAs (Platform-service). More than half of the companies that own the cloud plan say they have some confidence in shifting their production workloads to IaaS. Half of the respondents said they were either developing, testing or deploying workloads to the cloud in the next year or so.

Companies accept PAAs at a slower pace. However, 44% per cent of respondents expressed confidence that the application would be transferred to PAAs, while 41% per cent said they were actively contributing to the use of PAAs. In companies planning to use PAAs, it executives think they have more technical confidence than IT staff. This may reflect the fact that employees who are concerned about this matter are not very familiar with the application platform. Large enterprises are more likely to use IaaS or PAAs than SMEs.

Respondents said that service performance and applicability, service level agreements and prices were the main factors determining the choice of an IaaS or PAAs provider. Fits into existing development processes and environments, and is a priority for companies to choose PAAs suppliers.

Increased cloud spending--CFO (CFO) need more information

In the next 12 months, companies want to spend an average of 1.5 million dollars on cloud-based services, a figure that rose 10% from 2012. Unsurprisingly, large companies are spending more on cloud-based infrastructure services than SMEs, averaging 2.8 million dollars and 486,000 dollars respectively. Financial services and High-tech companies are more likely to develop high cloud budgets.

Investment in cloud services will grow over the next year, accounting for about 15% of the IT budget. SaaS will continue to be the largest share of cloud spending, followed by IaaS, Network Service Management, Security Service management, PAAs, and Maas (management as a service). In the cloud infrastructure and management services, large enterprises will invest a little more than SMEs.

However, while half of it policymakers believe that the cloud is a crucial game-changing player for companies, it is a matter of debate about investing in the cloud.

Respondents believe that some of the adverse facts are still very convincing. For example, the opportunity to reduce TCO (total cost of ownership, TCO) is one of the three selling points for both public and private cloud investments. Faster deployment and cost savings are important factors to consider when choosing a public cloud. However, authorizing the enterprise to continue or replace the out-of-the-way legacy technology is the main reason why the enterprise chooses the private cloud.

IT departments may have found it difficult to articulate financial benefits to the financial sector. When asked about the views of non-IT business leaders, 38% per cent said that it was difficult to estimate ROI and see the economic benefits of cloud investment as their second biggest concern for enabling the cloud (information security remains the first concern).

The respondents pointed out that it was difficult for the CFO to convince others and prove the value of the cloud on the C-level board. Because of this challenge, respondents said that suppliers were best able to help prove the value of the cloud with lower TCO.

While it people need to find a better way to point out the economic value of the cloud, it has little impact on whether the enterprise chooses to use a public cloud or a private cloud. Most respondents (59%) think they have a little bit of confidence that they can save the same or more costs and have more flexibility if they are in a private cloud environment.

The size of the enterprise is different and IT organizations have different influence on the decision

Investment in non-IT investments is expected to rise from 20% to 24% within three years. However, when it comes to making decisions to buy a fine item, it decision makers are more influential than non-it decision-makers. This result suggests that vendors should build a broad relationship with it and end-user organizations.

CIOs, compared to other it or individuals, there is more say in the purchasing process for what products to buy, but that is not the case, with only 47% of respondents saying that the highest it executives can attend the board, the second and third are CEOs (39%) and senior IT Executives (35%).

The size of the business is different in making decisions. In small and medium-sized enterprises, CEOs have more decision-making power than CIOs in choosing suppliers. But in large enterprises, non-it executives are not often involved, and decisions are made by it executives, including it VP, CTO and it builders, and it guidance organizations, which guide the organization's leaders, which typically include IT departments and end user organizations.

However, the business unit often has the freedom of it self-monitoring, at least when it comes to buying public cloud services. While public cloud procurement is usually carried out by a group, in 30% of the business, the sales department is allowed to make decisions based on the actual situation.

The survey data show that in large enterprises, it is easier for the IT department to regulate the business sector to make decisions to buy public clouds than it does in small and medium-sized enterprises.

Even if the IT department supervises the procurement of the business unit, the technicians still have a strong decision. 46% of IT executives said that cloud projects outside the IT department would eventually return to the IT department's jurisdiction. This is mainly due to security considerations, with 65% per cent of respondents saying that 64% per cent thought there was a problem with technical oversight.

Supplier must increase safety factor

In fact, security concerns are paramount in the deployment of the cloud, especially for public cloud services. 2/3 of respondents (67%) believed that safety factor was one of their three major concerns, and the second was the integration Problem (46%). For large enterprises, information security is more important.

A further challenge is that many respondents do not trust their suppliers. 56% of respondents said they would not use cloud services rashly until they were fully certain of the reliability of cloud service providers.

More than half of the security decision makers believe that their company and network providers share the responsibility for the security of Network information. Nearly 3/4 of respondents have at least some confidence in the security of information in the cloud. But the respondents ' confidence in cloud security has declined slightly over the past year. The inability to determine whether the vendor site can provide the appropriate security services remains an obstacle to the enterprise's ability to enable public cloud services, and this concern is rising.

Those who focus on the "security" issue of cloud-enabled services clearly point to their expectations of suppliers and want them to provide higher quality security services. 68% of respondents want to provide regular cloud security update Services for their suppliers. Nearly 60% of respondents also want to see suppliers use different solutions, for example, you can use an outbound security audit system, suppliers to use the industry-standard architecture, maintain interoperability with the company's information security architecture, and more generally, all programs should conform to the enterprise's own safety standards.

And more than half of the respondents want the supplier to incorporate security services into the enterprise's system development lifecycle, implement monitoring systems, login regulations and procedures, and conduct background checks on vendor-related employees.

Respondents ' attitude towards cloud services

Technology development brings improved cloud services into it processes. About half of the respondents believed that the cloud caused demand for new applications (50%), it complexity requirements (49%), and the need for professional technology (49%). Although 48% of respondents believe that the cloud does not affect the number of employees in the enterprise, but 39% of the companies believe that the composition of the changes, and the total number of workers into a downward trend.

Respondents were more likely to mention the positive side of the cloud. 56% of respondents pointed out that the cloud stimulated it innovation. 54% per cent of respondents believe that collaboration between employees and it agility has been improved.

Cloud information management also needs to be addressed by IT departments, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Many companies do not have the regulations needed to store or generate information on the cloud. 59% of large enterprises have enacted cloud management regulations (2012 data is 52%), the most common way is to modify or expand the existing information management regulations. 63% of small and medium-sized enterprises have not yet enacted data management regulations, although 70% of SMEs claim to plan to enact relevant regulations.

Given that data management is a challenge for many businesses and that many business leaders do not yet realize the value of the cloud, it is not surprising that respondents expect suppliers to focus on data integrity/quality assurance and better pricing patterns. In large enterprises, the respondents, because most of the data are appropriately managed, so these enterprises need most is the flexibility of the contract, as well as the control of the contract.

Respondents say they often ask their colleagues for information about cloud suppliers, supply issues and emerging technologies. At present, respondents are most interested in cloud technology and its management, including learning how to solve cloud security vulnerabilities (73%), Storage (72%), transferring data to the Cloud (70%), and one set of applications that are more applicable to the cloud computing model (70%).

Given that it decision makers will consider the issues in many ways, suppliers have the opportunity to enhance their image in the customer population, so they can creatively reduce their managerial competencies and reduce the financial challenges they face.

The respondents often referred to the old brands in cloud computing-Amazon, Microsoft and Google-but the frequencies mentioned were not too high.