Survey says: cloud computing, telecommuting still struggling for foothold in mid-market

Just how big a business will cloud computing become? According to a survey of mid-market IT and business leaders, less than the hype would suggest.

The survey, administered by SWC Technology Partners earlier this year, found that cloud computing is still in its nascent stages and generally is viewed as a complement to traditional technology.

Of the 210 people surveyed, 54.2 percent said their companies weren't pursuing a single cloud-computing initiative. and just 3.7 percent said their entire company had adopted a cloud computing solution. About 30 percent were testing the viability and value of a cloud computing solution, and 12 percent had select groups working with cloud computing solutions.

As one respondent told SWC:

"I don't foresee the cloud as replacing the traditional use model we have now, but rather augmenting it. The cloud is a way to share data across many devices, enabling a user to work anywhere at any time in the most efficient manner. It doesn't replace the need for high performing, well designed, and low latency local applications and end user support."

The biggest concern with the cloud isn't anything new. In fact, I'm sure you've heard it or even said it before: Privacy and security. More than one-in-five respondents said it was the single biggest area of concern. Cost was cited just 9.8 percent of the time.

The SWC Technology Survey 2011 took a broad look at technology; it was last conducted in 2009. Obviously, there's been some change in the IT landscape.

In 2009, the top three priorities identified were security, business intelligence and storage. This year, security was still the top concern, but virtualization moved into the No. 2 spot followed by business intelligence.

The cloud? SWC said that "despite strong industry focus on cloud computing at the production level, enterprise implementation of this technology model is lagging."

Not everyone dismissed the cloud.

"Cloud computing, web conferencing and the ability to work from home due to emerging technologies are very promising tools in relation to our business. So we have recently moved our Exchange & SharePoint from in-house to Microsoft's BPOS service, and I am also looking to possibly move our file server/backup to the cloud as well," said a respondent.

As far as companies switching their entire IT operation to the cloud, respondents were split as to when it might happen. Well, not all of them. Some 42 percent, when asked if it could happen by 2015, said it "would never happen," 32 percent said only if many "currently unresolved issues get addressed," 20 percent said it would happen, but not by 2015.

Only 5.6 percent said it would "absolutely happen."

Despite plenty of stories to the contrary, SWC found only 14 percent of those survey described telecommuting as "the norm." That was down a percentage point from 2009, although larger companies-those with 2,000 employees or more--generally were more likely to use it extensively (20 percent).

"During the recession technologies that support telecommuting, such as unified messaging and video conferencing were positioned as cost savers; specifically following the value proposition that remote employees reduced corporate rent and that remote meetings could reduce the cost of travel," SWC said. "Why the adoption didn't meet expectations is hard to conclude. One assumption may be that coming out of the recession business leaders had a desire to have a more concrete or physical interaction with their respective teams."

Check out the full results of the survey here, and let me know what you think.--Jim

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