Intellectual theft in the cloud worries UK business

Intellectual property theft is among the worries of those firms wanting to move to cloud and mobile technologies, research by accountants KPMG has found.

The latest survey of 500 global executives in the financial services, retail, health care, media, and pharmaceutical sectors, found that 42% are using cloud-based applications and mobile devices to help their staff become more mobile in their working lives, compared to 15% in 2012.

Mark Shank, managing director of digital and mobile at KPMG, said: "Employees today demand the same access, experience and richness on their work computers and mobile devices as they have on their personal devices. Cloud is making that possible, and organizations are turning to it to enable a more flexible and mobile workforce."

The cloud is also being used to transform customer interactions, especially in the retail sector, with executives more than 7% more likely to adopt cloud to improve interaction with customers, suppliers and business partners.

Jeanne Johnson, from KPMG’s Management Consulting team, said: "Today’s empowered consumers expect more from their retail experience, and this adds pressure and uncertainty to retail businesses and operating models.

"Consumers expect to be known, recognised, and offered personalised insight and offerings. They want to interact with the brand in person, on-line, on the go – on their terms. They also prefer ready access to knowledgeable and responsive associates across those various channels."

The survey also revealed that for 50% worry about the risk of intellectually property theft in the cloud, while 45% cited data loss and privacy risk as other major challenges.

"While the challenge posed by cloud related data loss and privacy threats are less pronounced in the minds of global industry leaders, they are still taking the issue seriously," said Wright.

"The clear trend in the data that we have collected shows that, even in the face of significant media attention paid to recent data breaches, global leaders are still willing to embrace the transformative potential of the cloud."