Clouds gather over European software market in 2011

Market watcher IDC forecasts impact of cloud on channel and end users this year

The European software landscape will undergo major changes this year because of cloud computing, says IDC.

The market watcher has made a series of predictions about the impact cloud will have on the European software market in 2011, from both a channel and end-user perspective.

It forecasts that software vendors will devote more resources to developing their cloud strategies, and that the coming year will see the emergence of more wholesale delivery models around it.

David Bradshaw, research manager of European software-as-a-service and cloud services at IDC, said: "The cloud has moved from being on the periphery of both IT buyers and vendors to being a core issue for both parties.

"IT buyers are looking for ways for cloud to increase agility while reducing cost, while software vendors are scrambling to get their cloud offerings into the market before it is too late."

The analyst also claims cloud-based social business platforms will become increasingly popular in 2011, and that governance of the cloud industry will ramp up, but not impede growth.

Eric Domage, research manager for European security products and services at IDC, said: "Organisations have adopted cloud despite the security questions and the challenge now is to keep control over cloud adoption.

"New technologies released in 2011 will help better manage this complex, flexible and always-changing IT resource."