Spending on Cloud Computing to Increase in the United States: Report

Demand for cloud computing is set to accelerate in the days ahead as a survey conducted by CompTIA (News - Alert) shows an increased interest among organizations in investing in SaaS applications.

More than half (56 percent) of the organizations surveyed for CompTIA’s Second Annual Trends in Cloud Computing study said their investment in cloud computing will increase by 10 percent or more over the next 12 months.

CompTIA, a no-government organization that often studies on IT sector, says it surveyed as many as 500 IT and business professionals in the United States involved in IT decision-making.

The major reason for technology adoption, according to the research firm, is that most software as a service (SaaS (News - Alert)) applications are easily accessible through the Internet and that makes them relatively easy for business employees to use without involving any IT staff.

“This additional investment will likely be accompanied by greater complexity in the overall cloud strategy, such as moving to a hybrid cloud model or adopting more advanced services beyond Software as a Service,” said Seth Robinson, director, technology analysis, CompTIA.

While IT departments continue to be the prime driver behind the transition to the cloud, the CompTIA study suggests there is significant momentum building for individual business groups and units within an organization to seek out cloud solutions.

“Organizations may begin exploring options such as Infrastructure as a Service and Platform as a Service, which will allow them to experiment with custom application development,” Robinson added.

In the survey, about one in five (21 percent) companies said they have lines of business that pursue cloud solutions independently of the IT department.

Although general understanding of cloud computing has improved dramatically over the past year, many users continue to have questions regarding details of cloud implementation, the survey found.

 The 2010 CompTIA cloud computing study found that 60 percent of end users desired a clearer definition of cloud computing. In 2011, that number increased to 66 percent.

 Areas where users want more clarity include the types of cloud computing offerings (Software as a Service, Platform as a Service and Infrastructure as a Service) and the types of deployment models (public cloud, private cloud or hybrid).

Organizations that have spent time learning about and experimenting with cloud solutions indicate they have a higher level of comfort with cloud computing. In the new CompTIA study, 72 percent of these organizations feel more positive about cloud computing now than they did one year ago. Another 25 percent report no change in their perception.

Want to learn more about cloud communications? Then be sure to attend the Cloud Communications Summit, collocated with TMC’s (News - Alert) ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. The Cloud Communications Summit will address a growing need of businesses to integrate and leverage cloud based communications applications, process enhancement techniques, and network based communications interfaces and architectures. To register, click here.