Everyone knows SMBs are making their way into the cloud. How quickly they’re doing so, however, and which IT services they’re moving off-site is a little murkier.
Research from social network and IT management vendor Spiceworks Inc. provides some helpful clues. Published in May, the latest edition of the company’s semi-annual State of SMB IT survey shows that 48 percent of small and midsize businesses worldwide are currently using at least some cloud solutions. That’s over 71 percent more than a year earlier, yet just over 4 percent higher than six months ago, indicating a sharp dip in adoption. And perhaps a temporary one: Fully 62 percent of survey respondents say they will be using cloud-based resources by the end of the year.
As to which services SMBs are migrating to the cloud, Web hosting, email, and disaster recovery are the less-than-surprising top three. More intriguing are the systems that survey participants say they’re not moving cloud-wards, which include logistics management, security, and CRM. Apparently it will be a while still before most SMBs feel comfortable hosting sensitive and mission-critical functions off-site.
To download a complete copy of the survey, visit www.spiceworks.com/voice-of-it.
