Hybrid cloud worries 71 per cent of business

UK businesses are concerned adopting a hybrid cloud computing model would bring too much management complexity into their organisations.

This was the finding of a survey conducted by Vanson Bourne commissioned by service provider 2e2 which found despite 91 per cent of companies thinking the hybrid cloud could be for them, 71 per cent were concerned about the complicated running of the technology.

However, the figures got even worse for cloud vendors. Of the 200 IT directors interviewed, 57 per cent said they were confused as to which cloud model was suitable for them, if at all, due to mixed messages from the variety of companies claiming to offer cloud computing.

Nathan Marke, chief technology officer (CTO) of 2e2, claimed the findings were indicative of the state of cloud computing today.

"Based on the fact that 91 per cent of those surveyed want a hybrid model, it's clear the vast majority of businesses understand the different options that are available," he said.

"However, with so much hype around cloud and its various incarnations, these organisations don't know which model is right for them and how to go about implementing it."

Marke claimed the question of what is the cloud' had been answered but now, vendors needed to help businesses understand how to fit it in to their own environments and manage it going forward.

Control was still a major issue for more than half of the companies surveyed. A significant 56 per cent said they feared they would have less control of their entire infrastructure.

An even larger 68 per cent were concerned those internal systems would be put at risk if migrated, due to their own complex nature.

"The IT infrastructure within many organisations currently resembles spaghetti junction," Marke added.

"The first step for businesses is to audit the infrastructure and get a clear view on the interdependencies of different IT services. From here, organisations can make decisions about how to rationalise IT and whether cloud can play a part in that."

The last barrier shown up by the survey results was existing services and maintenance contracts, with 57 per cent claiming they would stall the process of migrating to cloud computing.