The deployment of cloud office systems by enterprises users is expected to witness a major shift by first half of 2015, and increase to 33% by 2017, according to a new report from Gartner.
The report revealed that currently, cloud office systems are used by about 50 million enterprises users, representing 8% of overall office system users.
Gartner vice president Tom Austin said that despite the hype surrounding migration to the cloud, big differences in movement rates continue, depending on organisations’ size, industry, geography and specific requirements.
"While 8 percent of business people were using cloud office systems at the start of 2013, we estimate this number will grow to 695 million users by 2022, to represent 60 percent," Austin said.
By late 2014, a minimum of 10% of enterprise email seats are expected to be based on a cloud or software-as-a-service model, while the figure would rise by about one-third by the late 2017.
Gartner also reported substantial expansion in the number of devices used by people to access cloud office systems in recent years.
According to estimates, the typical knowledge worker currently uses up to four devices to access organisation’s office system capabilities within a single week.
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The rise in number of devices per user is expected to drive some organisations towards cloud office systems, which would reduce the IT burden of software installation, maintenance and upgrades of locally installed office software.
The research firm reports that organisations in industries including higher education, discrete manufacturing, retail and hospitality, are more apparent to deploy cloud-based office systems at present.
Early adopters of cloud office systems include intelligence and defence sectors, financial services and healthcare industries.
"Although it is still early in the overall evolution of this cloud-based segment, there are many cases where businesses — particularly smaller ones and those in the retail, hospitality and manufacturing industries — should move at least some users to cloud office systems during the next two years," Austin said.
"However, readiness varies by service provider, and caution is warranted."
