The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released the latest ‘Business Use of Information Technology’ data (ABS 8129.0), which includes data on the usage of cloud computing for the first time.
The report shows that over 19 percent of Australian businesses used ‘paid cloud computing’ as at 30 June 2014. And this is where the value of data comes into question. In such a fast moving sector where we are seeing significant growth and rapid adoption, the data provided by the ABS is lagging far behind.
Of more value is the data proffered deeper in the report. In adoption per sector, it shows that proportion of businesses paying for cloud changes significantly by industry – from 43.1 percent in Information Media and Telecommunications to just 9.1 percent in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing.
There is significant (although expected) variance in adoption depending on the size of the business – 37 percent of larger organisations (more than two hundred employees) have adopted paid cloud computing, compared to 16 percent of businesses with less than five employees.
The data also delved into what the 19 percent of organisations are using cloud for:
- Over 86 percent are using cloud applications (Software as a Service).
- Near 10 percent are using cloud computing to run their own applications.
- Over 56 percent are using it for storage.
The core benefits of cloud adoption were identified as:
- Over 47 percent identified the simplicity of deployment of cloud-based solutions.
- Over 46 percent noted the increased productivity.
- Over 34 percent claimed a reduction in IT costs.
- Over 33 percent said the flexibility to either up-scale or down-scale services was a key benefit.
The key barriers to cloud were:
- Near 59 percent claimed there were no factors limited or prevented the use of paid cloud computing.
- Over 22 percent responded that an insufficient knowledge of cloud computing services was prohibitive.
- Near 11 percent stated that the high cost of cloud computing services was a challenge.
- Over 10 percent identified that the uncertainty about the location of data was their barrier to entry.
While we believe the overall cloud adoption rate is well out of date, there are some interesting insights to be found deeper in the data. To access the ABS report, click here.
To learn more about private, public and hybrid Cloud, contact the blueAPACHE Cloud team.