Vanson Bourne asked 460 financial decision makers in international organisations with 500 employees or more, across a range of private industry sectors, how they viewed Cloud computing. Their answers may surprise you. [Vanson Bourne, March 2012]

THE IMPORTANCE OF CLOUD COMPUTING93% of UK financial decision makers believe Cloud computing will be important to the success of their business over the next 12 to 18 months.

In all countries in which the research was performed, the vast majority of senior decision-makers within the finance function believe that Cloud computing will be significant to how their business performs.

91% tell us that Cloud computing is about the benefits to the business as a whole rather than purely being a technology issue. Even among those who say that their organisation has no plan to adopt Cloud computing, 78% report that Cloud computing will be important to their success.

“It is apparent that Cloud computing is considered important to organisations, even if they themselves are not adopting it.”

THE BUSINESS BENEFITS OF CLOUD COMPUTING96% of financial decision makers asked think that Cloud computing provides their business with quantifiable benefits.These benefits include:

Reduced IT maintenance costs – 48% Reduced IT spend – 44% Reduced operational costs – 41% Improved process efficiency by better internal collaboration – 32%

“Those using cloud computing are experiencing significant quantifiable benefits across a wide range of areas.”

100%

99%

UnitedKingdom

Spain

Netherlands

Sweden

Italy

France

Cloud computing is importantto the success of my businessin the next 12 to 18 months

Cloud computing is purely a technology issue

48%13%

3%94%

93%

93%

87%

10%

8%

8%

10%

Reduced IT maintenance costs

Reduced IT spend

Increased employee productivityby better internal collaboration

and access to information

Reduced M&A integration costs

Improved process efficiency bybetter internal collaboration

Reduced operational costs

Enabling fast growth by delivering scaled upinfrastructure and thereby integrating

companies brought together through M&A activity

Getting new products/servicesto market faster

I don’t see Cloud computing delivering any of these business benefits

48%

44%

41%

32%

30%

22%

15%

15%

4%

EXTENT OF CLOUD COMPUTING ADOPTION 67% of financial decision makers surveyed confirm that their company has already implemented Cloud services or plans too.

The majority of companies surveyed are either investing in Cloud computing already or planning to do so shortly.

Any enterprise needs to be investigating Cloud computing as their competitors are probably already reviewing it. Cloud computing is not just an academic proposition – it is a differentiator that many organisations are adopting to give them a competitive edge.

“Financial decision makers need to understand what Cloud computing is in order to understand how it can effectively help the entire enterprise.” CFOS ARE AWARE OF CLOUD BUT FEW ARE FULLY INFORMEDJust 15% of financial decision-makers have total familiarity with the Cloud.Cloud computing is:

Where we can gain access to a shared IT resources through the Internet, so we only use as much applications and computing capacity as we need

A complementary component in our IT strategy, where we gain access to shared scalable IT resources which are integrated into our existing on-premise IT infrastructure

“Financial decision makers around the world are taking an active interest in technological innovation and change, though it is likely that they have not had the concept fully explained to them.”

WILL CLOUD COMPUTING REDUCE THE IMPORTANCE OF IT DEPARTMENTS?58% of senior financial decision makers believe the Cloud increases the IT department’s ability to contribute to corporate strategy.

41% of those surveyed believe that CFOs will become more influential over IT procurement. However, very few financial decision makers believe that the adoption of Cloud computing will result in decreases in the IT department’s importance.

The majority of financial decision makers believe that Cloud computing will either increase IT budgets and headcounts or leave them unchanged.

“Financial decision makers believe cloud computing will empower the IT department to... ‘forget about the plumbing’ and explore the potential of new and emerging technologies.”

I don't know

No, and no plans

No, but evaluating

No, but making plans

Yes38%

29%

12%

11%

11%

Budget

Ability toinnovate

Contribute tocorporate strategy

Headcount

Increase Decrease No change

34% 23%43%

61% 25%15%

58% 30%12%

30% 35%35%

UnitedKingdom

France

Spain

Italy

Netherlands

Sweden

No familiarity with Cloud computing

Some familiarity with Cloud computing

Total familiarity with Cloud computing

14%

18%

8%

13%

17% 10%

10%

17%

12%

15%

12% 17%71%

71%

70%

77%

73%

75%

Source: Vanson Bourne Report: The Business Impact of the Cloud. According to 460 Senior Financial Decision-Makers. March 2012.