The putative benefits of cloud computing are more appealing to business executives than to IT leaders, a survey of over 1,000 executives has found.
The survey, conducted by independent analyst company Horses for Sources and the London School of Economics, presented respondents with a list of potential benefits of cloud computing. In almost every case, a greater proportion of business executives said the benefit appealed to them “as it pertains to [their] job” than of IT executives.
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This was especially true for proposed benefits including “We can implement business apps we need much quicker”, “Cloud empowers us to access best-in-class applications quickly”, and “Cloud enables us to focus on transforming our business, not IT”.
“As we suspected, the dynamics driving the future direction of cloud adoption within the business functions is going to come from the business function leaders who ‘get it’,” remarked Horses for Sources founder and former AMR and IDC analyst Phil Fersht.
This finding could be interpreted as evidence that IT executives are less excited about the prospect of cloud computing as it threatens the status quo in the IT department.
Alternatively, it could be taken as a sign that cloud computing vendors have had more success selling the vision of cloud to business execs than to IT professionals who, having typically experienced technology hype cycles first hand, tend to be more cynical.
Either way, the perception of cloud computing among executives should not be mistaken for evidence of its true merits, as few organisations have yet adopted cloud computing to any great extent.
Further findings from the Horses for Sources / LSE report are to soon be released.
