Cloud computing will give chief financial officers (CFOs) the chance to become more influential on the technology side of a business, according to a new study.
According to the research by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Google, half of the senior financial decision makers quizzed believe that as the adoption of cloud computing within enterprise continues to grow, CFOs will become more influential in the purchasing and management of IT services.
The survey also revealed that many CFOs agree with the IT department that cloud computing can have a positive impact on the business.
Two-thirds (66%) of respondents the cloud increases the IT department’s contribution to corporate strategy while 69% believe that cloud computing increases the IT department’s ability to innovate.
Many CFOs are pinning their hopes on cloud computing: a massive 93% said that cloud computing will be important to the success of their company over the next 12 to 18 months, and 94% believe that cloud computing provides their business with quantifiable benefits, such as reduced IT maintenance costs (44%), reduced IT spend (47%) reduced operational costs (47%) and improved process efficiency (34%).
Most business surveyed (68%) said their company has either already implemented cloud services or has plans to.
"To date, enterprise cloud adoption has been largely driven by the IT function. However, today we see ourselves having more discussions with CFOs, COOs and CEOs and it is not hard to see why," said Thomas Davies, Head of Google Enterprise for the UK and Ireland.
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"The benefits of cloud computing go far beyond the obvious cost savings on software and reducing the burden of maintenance. The strategically significant role it can play within an organisation in terms of driving innovation and productivity is making it an increasingly attractive option for businesses that want to remain competitive and agile," he added.
