Increased agility remains the key driver. But remote working and data protection now play a notable role in adoption.
In the pre-pandemic years, one theme became prominent above all others in discussions about the cloud: the way it helps nimble challenger brands to punch above their weight, and enterprises to respond by becoming more agile.
In a survey of IT decision-makers on the continent we have just undertaken with IDG Connect, this theme still dominates perceptions. Half of our respondents (51%) identified faster time to market as one of the key benefits of cloud adoption. Roughly the same proportion identified improved agility as a key benefit.
By contrast, only one-quarter to one-third of respondents identified internally-focused benefits including improved business processes and increased resilience.
Home working to intensify
This balance may be changing. Because what our survey also identified is a substantial wave of investment in cloud-based technologies that primarily accelerate and simplify internal processes within organisations.
Notably, this shift is predicated on the view that remote working will become more, rather than less, widespread during the next year.
Today, only one in five of our respondents (21%) say that more than 60% of their organisation’s employees work from home or remotely due to Covid-19.
In 12 months’ time, by contrast, a majority of organisations expect their organisation to be managing 60% or more of employees as they work from home.
This is a significant shift. As a result, substantial numbers of organisations across the continent are migrating from on-premise desktops to virtual desktop infrastructure and SaaS applications with single sign-on. They are investing in security for distributed working and moving financial applications, databases and contact center applications into the cloud. In doing so, they are enabling remote working. But they are also laying the foundation for more efficient business and IT processes in the future.
By Peter Kirwan on CIO
Image Source: Tech Republic
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