A survey by NetPilot Internet Security (NIS) has found that UK SMEs are concerned about the security and reliability of cloud computing.
NIS, an Internet security specialist, conducted the survey of 260 UK SMEs, focusing on their adoption of cloud based services.
The study found that cloud services were being use to complement and enhance existing IT infrastructures rather than to replace them outright. Only 15% of respondents claimed to have no issues with using cloud services.
The main areas of concern for cloud services included cost, data security, integrity, data loss, service reliability, lack of control and quality of support offered by providers.
Despite concerns, cloud services have gained popularity based on their ease of use and cross platform support. 65% of respondents said that they used cloud services for file sharing and synchronisation and/or backup. Dropbox was the most popular option, with 60% of SMEs surveyed using the service. The survey also found that more than 90% of IT staff have a good grasp of cloud services.
NIS managing director, Jamie Pushman, commented on the survey’s results: "Other recently published surveys have been focused on responses from a more international perspective with the UK being a minor component of an overall study. Those organisations participating in previous surveys have typically been larger than the average UK SME business. Drawing detailed conclusions from these results seemed potentially unreliable for our area of interest and hence we considered yet another, more focussed study was justified.
"For NIS this study has helped validate its strategy for cloud services in helping provide reliable, high throughput connectivity and data security – issues being highlighted as serious concerns by this survey".
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