Executives Predict Cloud-Enabled Transformation

By Dennis McCafferty | Posted 2014-08-21

The majority of U.S. companies recognize that the cloud will play an essential role in innovation in the very near future. Yet, most enterprises don't have a clear cloud migration plan in place, according to a recent survey conducted by Oxford Economics for Windstream. The accompanying survey report, titled "The Path to Value in the Cloud," reveals that organizations are falling short when it comes to getting the right performance and ROI metrics in place to measure cloud-enabling success. There are also concerns about the cloud's impact on security, costs, platform compatibility and privacy. However, overall sentiments remain upbeat, as the cloud is expected to help increase geographic market expansion, business transformation, collaboration and other strategy drivers. "Cloud computing today is fundamentally altering business processes and changing the way organizations interact with customers, partners and employees," according to the report. "This transformation brings incredible opportunities, including the ability to build a real-time enterprise where interaction and innovation flourish." A total of 350 U.S. business and technology executives took part in the research.

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Direction Needed

Only 31% of the executives responding to the survey said their organization has a clear cloud migration plan in place.
Missing Numbers

Just 43% have defined metrics for cloud key performance indicators (KPIs), and only 40% have defined metrics for ROI.
Pivotal Piece

36% of respondents said the cloud is critical to their innovation strategy, and 53% said it will be critical in two years.
More Collaboration

63% said the cloud is increasing collaboration among business units, and 83% expect that it will in two years.
Shift of Power

36% of executives said the cloud has pushed control of IT to line-of-business users, and 53% predict it will do so in two years.
Transition in Progress

30% said the cloud is spurring business-model transformation at their organization, and 43% anticipate that it will do that in two years.
Expansion Plans

40% of respondents said the cloud is enabling their organization to move into new geographic markets, and 57% predict that will happen in two years.
Faster, Better, Cheaper

32% said the cloud is mainly serving to enable cost-savings or efficiencies, and 40% predict that will happen in two years.
Organizations for Projected Cloud Services

Engineering/development: 73%, Operations: 72%, Management/board: 72%, Marketing: 59%, Sales: 53%
Concerns About Cloud Migration

Data security: 76%, Platform compatibility: 52%, Privacy: 51%, Cost: 49% ,Workforce preparedness/skills: 48%
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