Enough Already! Cloud Computing Is Here to Stay

The following is a list of facts pulled from an IBM source.  It’s easy to see that vendors like IBM, Microsoft, Amazon an Cisco are putting massive efforts behind “the cloud”, but also that businesses are now pulling the trigger and implementing cloud solutions for some of their IT infrastructure.

• According to AMD (1/12), 70 percent of businesses are either using or investigating cloud computing solutions.
• According to an IBM survey (2011) of 2,000 midsize companies, two-thirds were planning or had already deployed cloud-based technologies, and 70 percent were actively pursuing cloud-based analytics for greater insight and efficiency.
• 90 percent of Microsoft’s 2011 R&D budget was spent on cloud computing strategy and products.
• In a 2011 Avanade-commissioned study of C-level executives from 18 countries to learn how cloud computing is being used in the enterprise, it found:
  • 60% reported cloud computing as their highest IT priority.
  • 74% are already using some form of cloud computing technology.
  • 64% are investing in training new and current employees on their cloud expertise.
• Worldwide IT spending on cloud computing has increased more than 25 percent from 2008 to 2012.
• 30% of small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) used cloud software in 2011.
• A study by Mimecast in 2010 found that 70 pecent of companies that were using cloud computing services are willing to and will move new applications to the cloud.
• 48 percent of U.S. government agencies moved at least one workflow to the cloud following the new requirement that federal agencies adopt a “cloud-first” policy.
• 41 percent of senior executives say they are using or plan on using some kind of private cloud.
• Cloud providers have increased personnel from nil in 2007 to over 550,000 in 2010.

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