Cloud Potential
There are many cloud advocates who are confident in claiming that this technology will become even more important in the future, both as a tool for businesses and a something harnessed by consumers.
Ideally the integration of the cloud will become so seamless that people will not even realise that they are using a service that is hosted remotely rather than operating on-premises. Everything from document management solutions to video streaming and even gaming can run on the cloud.
But the business benefits of document management solutions and a move towards a paperless office environment, along with all of the other advantages for productivity, seem to be lost on a certain proportion of companies in the UK.
International Perception Shifts
A study commissioned by Redwood Software has found that British IT decision-makers are less enamoured with the cloud than their American equivalents.
58 per cent of those in the US said that their companies used cloud computing in order to store vital documents and data, while just 35 per cent of those based in the UK made the same claim.
The number of UK businesses using the cloud in order to account for spikes in required capacity is even lower, with under a quarter making the most of its scalability in order to streamline the working environment and also cut IT spending.
When asked about whether or not the cloud can be used to make businesses more agile, just 47 per cent of British businesses agreed, compared to 71 per cent of those from the US.
In all the survey paints a particularly vivid picture of the differences between the responses to cloud computing in the UK and the US, which some believe could become a problem for British businesses and the wider economy further down the line.
Experts believe that British firms are not only unconvinced about how the cloud can be deployed to simplify It and reduce their reliance on internal systems, but also lack an understanding of the ways in which money can actually be saved after cloud adoption.
Other reports have found that investment in cloud computing in the UK is actually quite strong, particularly when looking at the development of the data centres that are necessary to support large scale remote platforms of this kind.
However, it seems there needs to be a cultural shift in the way that businesses perceive the cloud if the market is to grow at a rate that is comparable to in the US.
If the cloud really is the future, then businesses need to start preparing themselves for the world and the market that this will create. Those that do not will be left behind.
AUTHOR BIO
Anna Mathews is a writer and tech expert who has experienced document management solutions first hand and also advocates a move to the cloud. In a time of economic uncertainty, be believes that fresh IT platforms can help businesses avoid budgetary pitfalls.