Cloud survey uncovers seven storage services trends

The latest cloud services survey fielded recently by TechTarget reveals that a majority of companies use some form of cloud IT services; in fact, two-thirds of the 825 survey respondents said their companies are current cloud service users.

That's a sharp increase over the 54% who acknowledged their use of cloud IT services last spring and a healthy six-point gain over last year's cloud services survey results. Clearly, cloud-based infrastructure, platforms and apps are figuring more prominently in enterprise IT planning these days.

Forty-three percent of those surveyed employ cloud backup or archive services, while 31% tap into cloud storage for disaster recovery/business continuity.

Public cloud services are the most popular (40%), but 39% of respondents have opted for hybrid setups leveraging both on-premises and cloud resources.

More than half (51%) of the companies currently not using cloud IT services are preparing to take the plunge and start using these services: 14% will do it within the next six months, 25% will implement it within a year and 12% have it on their two-year roadmaps.

The main factors that have made companies wary of cloud IT services are concerns about sufficient security (cited by 37%) and lack of control (33%). Twenty-eight percent have already invested capital in internal IT resources and 26% feel they need to virtualize their systems more to make effective use of cloud services.