Ten main reasons why cloud technology is taking center stage in call centers: Flexibility of OPEX over CAPEX. The shift from upfront capital costs to ongoing pay-as-you-go operational costs means that cloud-based solutions offer contact center managers a way to deploy new technology and scale up or down in a cost-effective way. For outsourcers and telemarketers who may have call volumes that vary dramatically depending on campaign levels, solutions with a flexible pay per usage […]
adoption
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According to a new report by cloud security company CipherCloud, compliance is the single biggest concern for large organizations looking at cloud adoption. The company surveyed its 100-plus large global customers and found that, for 64 percent, compliance was their top cloud security obstacle, followed by unprotected data for 32 percent. Of those concerned most about compliance, 58 percent said that cloud services violated data protection laws in their country, 31 percent said they violated […]
Improvements in hardware, software, and networking have combined with the secular trend toward outsourcing to usher in the era of cloud computing. The economies of scale offered by remote data centers managed by third parties allow enterprises to offload or outsource some or all of their computing and storage workloads. Cloud adoption is particularly cost-effective for smaller and midsize users that lack the capital, manpower, or expertise to build and maintain their own data centers. […]
Here are some key cloud computing statistics that highlight the growth and adoption trends of this strategic technology: Cloud spending By 2015, end-user spending on cloud services could be more than $180 billion By 2014, businesses in the United States will spend more than $13 billion on cloud computing and managed hosting services It is predicted the global market for cloud equipment will reach $79.1 billion by 2018 59 percent of all new spending on […]
The use of cloud computing is growing, and by 2016 this growth will increase to become the bulk of new IT spend, according to Gartner. 2016 will be a defining year for cloud as private cloud begins to give way to hybrid cloud, and nearly half of large enterprises will have hybrid cloud deployments by the end of 2017. “Overall, there are very real trends toward cloud platforms, and also toward massively scalable processing. Virtualization, […]
Virtualization has become the key technology underpinning ‘cloud-era’ IT infrastructure because the ability to deploy virtual instances of servers, desktop PCs, storage devices and network resources allows existing hardware to be utilised efficiently, and makes for much better manageability, flexibility and scalability. The graphs below highlight adoption trends across various implementations and applications:
The hidden costs were explored in a new survey of 468 CIOs, conducted by Research In Action and underwritten by Compuware Corporation. There’s no question a lot of money is going into cloud projects — two-thirds of the respondents say that cloud is their top investment area for 2013. Many have crunched the numbers for the up-front costs of cloud computing, which typically include subscription fees, combined with some level of staff time required for set-up, user […]
Small and medium businesses have a lot to gain through adopting cloud computing, a recent research from comScore – sponsored by Microsoft – shows. Not only would these companies benefit from important time and money savings when adopting the cloud, but they also see increased security levels, the aforementioned research shows. According to the survey, which was conducted among both cloud and non-cloud SMBs in the U.S., India, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, most businesses […]
Biggest spending is going towards tablets, cloud and virtualization, according to a new study. Small and medium-sized businesses are spending more money on IT, including adopting tablets, cloud services and virtualization to a greater extent, according to Spiceworks’ State of SMB IT survey. IT budgets at companies with fewer than 1,000 employees grew 6 percent in the first half of 2012 from the second half of 2011, and 15 percent year-over-year, according to the survey. […]
According to a survey carried out by hosted IT service provider Rise, 91 per cent of businesses strongly feel more needs to be done to educate end-users about the business benefits of adopting a Cloud infrastructure. The survey, conducted at a recent IT industry event, also identified that when it came to Cloud uptake the biggest concern for firms is where their data is being stored, with 64 per cent of surveyed participants identifying this […]
Avanade, a business technology services provider, recently released the results of a global survey which clearly reveals the rapid growth in the use of public cloud services. Now that cloud services are becoming more mainstream, it is causing growing pains for many companies. One in five executives surveyed admitted that it is close to impossible to manage the disparate cloud services within their organization. Close to 60 percent surveyed said that they are concerned about […]
Nearly one in 10 organizations in the U.S. estimated they store more than $10 million worth of data in the cloud. Semiconductor manufacturer AMD announced the results of a global research study on adoption, attitudes and approaches to cloud computing, surveying IT decision makers in public and private sector organizations across the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The findings revealed global and regional trends in cloud computing adoption and usage, highlighting the importance of both […]
Voice over Internet protocol essentially describes audio communication carried through Internet-based networks – basically, phone calls made over the Web, rather than through traditional phone lines. The term is also sometimes used to describe video-based communication carried over the Web from mobile devices, but is usually reserved for Web-based phone calls. For years, VoIP never really caught on in the consumer market, and even less in the business world. Because the service is dependent on […]
“You don’t know what you don’t know” might be the expression most appropriate for small to medium-size businesses (SMB) when it comes to the benefits of technology and their business, according to an independent survey of more than 500 SMB decision makers released at National Small Business Week. The study, commissioned by Verio Inc., a provider of online business solutions to SMBs worldwide, showed that more than two-thirds of respondents are uncertain if they will […]
In a troubled economy, cloud computing seems like a great cost saving alternative and it is. Whether in good times or bad, any pragmatic cost saving measure is a ‘good’ measure. Google, Microsoft, IBM and all other known and unknown cloud providers offer today’s CIO an array of major cost saving alternatives to the traditional data center and IT department. The temptation to put things on/in the cloud and sit back can be extremely compelling. […]
The big spenders on technology are businesses and government agencies. They buy about 75 percent of the computing goods and services sold worldwide. Yet it is increasingly evident they are not driving the new ideas, excitement and powerhouse technology companies in ascent these days. “The cutting edge of innovation is on the consumer side — digital technologies for consumption activity, play, entertainment and social-networked communication — and not in corporations anymore,” observed Timothy F. Bresnahan, […]
A quarter of enterprise are using or planning to use tablet computers, according to a report from Forrester which surveyed over 2,000 executives across Canada, France, Germany, the UK and the US. However, devices brought into the enterprise by staff are unlikely to be well catered for, as Forrester found that just two per cent support random or rogue devices, while 17 per cent are already trialling their own choice of model. This is likely […]
Want to know if your organization has the right characteristics and culture to successfully adopt cloud computing? I recently ran across a new cloud computing study that might provide the answer. “Our approach was to try to look into the future and determine what capabilities and kinds of organizations are necessary for a successful migration to the cloud,” co-author Arun Sundararajan told me. Sundararajan (associate professor of Information, Operations and Management Services at the NYU […]
The year 2010 will probably be remembered at the year that cloud computing “shaped” itself into a tangible concept, at least amongst those of us who care. 2011, on the other hand, will likely be the year in which IT figures out how to actually use cloud concepts. Of course there are success stories dating back two or more years, but what is happening so far in 2011 is a growing body of businesses, data, […]
The three dominant cloud computing models — Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) — are changing fast, as cloud providers reach up and down the stack to offer as close to a one-stop shop as possible. To understand how these cloud computing models are evolving and converging, it helps to know the history, said Jeffrey Kaplan, managing director of ThinkStrategies Inc., a consultancy in Wellesley, […]
Survey confirms companies are still trying to sort out cloud. A new survey asked companies about their average spend on cloud computing resources, and the results are surprising, in a low-spend way. That is, the average company spent just over $6,300 in 2010. This spending is expected to ramp up at least 10% during 2011. The survey of 100 IT executives, conducted by Osterman Research for Electric Cloud finds that among organizations that have implemented […]
Small and midsized companies are making the leap into the cloud in droves, and it’s not just to cut costs. And the majority of those companies rely on solution providers to make their cloud plans a reality, creating major opportunities for solution providers. “It’s no surprise to anybody that the basic acceptance and intention to move to the cloud is very high in SMBs and midsized companies,” said Tim Furey, founder of MarketBridge, a provider […]
Adoption of cloud computing in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) may be on the rise but many companies remain clueless about the technology. This was the finding of a new survey by PeoplePerHour.com PeoplePerHour.com. After talking to 1,300 SMEs across the UK, it discovered almost three quarters of the respondents (74 per cent) didn’t use cloud computing and 43 per cent of those didn’t even know what the term meant. Furthermore, more than a third […]
Microsoft today named some of the country’s top “cloud-friendly” U.S. cities. The rankings are based on the results of an extensive survey in which 2,000 IT decision makers nationwide discussed how they are adopting and using cloud computing. The forecast for cloud computing across key U.S. cities calls for new lines of business, more need for IT services, and potential job growth, according to a new survey released today by Microsoft. Microsoft released the results […]
The cloud will be discussed everywhere in 2011, but how much money actually is there in the cloud business? In a live webcast event this week, analyst firm IDC’s Research Vice-President Cindy Borovick forecast a $1.6 billion cloud market in 2011. Borovick’s forecast is not for the entire cloud services ecosystem, but rather is a subset of IDC’s data center and networking forecast. The $1.6 billion figure is IDC’s projection for network equipment revenues used […]
The research includes predictions for six technologies IT departments should consider in the coming year, including adoption of social media strategies, cloud computing and virtualization, as well as mobile applications and analytics tools. According to a study by IT analytics firm Info-Tech Research Group, 2011 will be the year of mass adoption for technologies the company said businesses have been slow to adopt. The research includes predictions for six technologies IT departments should consider in […]