New research from Virgin Media Business suggests that the majority of UK workers want to make the leap to cloud computing, but their businesses do not yet share their enthusiasm for it.

The telecoms provider spoke to 5,000 businesses about their attitude towards the cloud. It found that in total 62% of employees want to see the day-to-day software they use be delivered over the cloud.

In the breakdown public sector workers were revealed to be the keenest, with 61% wanting to access all their software for work through the cloud. This is no doubt good news as the government looks to ramp up its use of cloud computing.

However as things stand at the moment just one in 10 (10%) of public sector workers said they are currently using cloud computing on a daily basis. Things are slightly better in the private sector, with 16% of firms using the cloud and another 27% looking to add cloud computing to their existing business model in this year.

Tony Grace, chief operating officer of Virgin Media Business, said 2012 might finally be the year of cloud computing. "This year will see the cloud take off. The Government is ramping up activity and we’re working with them on the G-cloud initiative," he said.

"But it’s not just the public sector, one in ten businesses have already started investing in cloud technology," Grace added. "This should come as no surprise given the benefits that can be gained through cloud technology such as only paying for what you use rather than having to build your infrastructure to cope with peak demand.

Grace said that the survey also revealed some of the age-old drawbacks associated with the cloud are still a big worry for many businesses. "A third of companies told us they are still worried about data management and 28% admitted they had concerns about security," he concluded.

 

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