Cloud computing 'had biggest IT impact in 2013'

Cloud computing 'had biggest IT impact in 2013'

Cloud computing had the biggest impact of any technology during 2013 on IT professionals quizzed by tech site V3.

An end of year poll of the site’s readers found that four-fifths said that the cloud had the biggest effect on business technology during the year. Cloud servers located off-site topped the impact list with 78 per cent of those polled.

The survey also found that IT professionals are becoming less worried about security issues which have been considered one of the main reasons why cloud adoption has not been faster in the UK. They were also relaxed about their own security checks, despite the PRISM scandal where the US National Security Agency (NSA) collected private users’ data. Just five per cent of those polled were concerned about this.

The cost of moving to the cloud was also considered less of an issue due to increasing efficiency of off-site data centres, which are now increasingly being used by governments to store information. IDC has forecast that more than $100 billion will be spent on cloud computing this year, around five per cent of all spending on IT services worldwide.

The impact of big data was voted the second most significant during 2013, but this only received eight per cent of the vote. Although the need for large scale data storage is not great for small businesses, larger companies will increasingly need the services offered by data warehouses able to securely store massive amounts of information. The poll found that IT managers with large firms are worried about keeping up with the equipment, staffing levels and costs associated with storing big data.

Elsewhere in the poll, four per cent of IT managers voted bring your own device (BYOD) as their biggest technology trend of the year, two per cent said the idea of the "death of the PC" had been an important factor and the impact of mobile phone technology on businesses was considered to have had little effect.

Businesses looking to move services into the cloud, should evaluate the performance of their existing network and consider setting up a leased line or MPLS network.