Poor understanding of cloud computing among senior Irish managers

23 Sep 2009

More than half of Irish senior managers have a poor understanding of what exactly cloud computing is. This is despite the fact that 85pc of cloud computing projects in Ireland so far being a success.

A survey of 200 senior managers across professional services, financial services, manufacturing and the public sector on behalf of the Irish Internet Association by Sysco found that generally, understanding of cloud computing is poor in Ireland.

Asked whether they had a clear understanding of cloud computing, 43pc said no.

When vendors were excluded, this lack of understanding grew to 54pc. Some 43pc of IT managers admitted they did not have a clear understanding and a staggering 85pc of finance managers declared the same.

Despite the lack of clear understanding, 43pc have high confidence in the promise of cloud computing.

When only the largest enterprises were surveyed, this drops to 36pc, but 55pc still have reasonable confidence in the promise.

This was confirmed by the 21pc who responded that they could see a business benefit compared to only 3pc who did not. Interestingly, 76pc declined to answer this question which we deduce results from the lack of clear understanding in making such a clear-cut decision.

Some 29pc of those surveyed have already deployed a cloud computing project and 85pc of those projects were considered successful. When asked if they would use the cloud again, an overwhelming 94pc said yes.

Some 65pc of respondents believe Ireland is lagging compared to 33pc who believe we are consistent with international adoption and just 2pc who believe we are leading as early adopters.

Why? Some 26pc feel lack of understanding is the major obstacle, 22pc believe broadband penetration is the problem, 19pc chose security concerns and 14pc reliability concerns.

By John Kennedy

Photo: Irish senior managers have a poor understanding of what exactly cloud computing is, a survey suggests.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com