Cloud cuddlers fare better than naysayers, IBM claims
Report in partnership with Oxford Economics insists those that embrace cloud report almost double the revenue of those that don't
Firms that have embraced cloud are reporting almost double the revenue than the more cautious adopters, according to an IBM report.
Big Blue, in partnership with independent organisation Oxford Economics, conducted a survey with more than 800 cloud decision makers globally, and discovered that one out of five organisations is ahead of the curve on cloud adoption and is achieving competitive advantage through cloud computing.
Respondents spanned 24 industries and 13 countries including growth and mature markets, from enterprises of all sizes varying from 10,000+ employees to fewer than 1,000 employees.
Its report – entitled Under Cloud Cover – also revealed that the cloud’s strategic importance to decision makers such as chief executives, CMOs, finance, HR and procurement executives is set to double from 34 per cent to 72 per cent, which is higher than their IT executive peers at 58 per cent.
The report said: “Cloud is sparking imaginations. More and more business leaders are recognising its profound implications for how enterprises can make money, differentiate and compete.”
Other results showed that 66 per cent of respondents to IBM’s survey are using the cloud to strengthen the relationship between IT and lines of business, with the majority using cloud to integrate and apply mobile, social, analytics and big data technologies.
“Cloud enables [early adopters] to listen more broadly and dig through big data to learn customer preferences,” the report said. “Through cloud, they can also integrate processes and systems to serve customers better or engage them in new mobile or social ways that were not feasible before.”
In separate news, IBM announced it had teamed up with more than 100 academic institutions from across the globe to collaborate on technology curricula for students and mid-career professionals and equip them with cloud computing skills.
These institutions include London Metropolitan University, The Institute of Technology Blanchardstown in Ireland, Missouri State University, University of Missouri and Gurukul Kangri University in India.
Dr Dave Garrison from St Mary’s University in Minnesota said: "Fostering a new generation of talent with the right set technical expertise is paramount to enabling our students to succeed. The emergence of cloud computing is very relevant for our students because they grew up with the Internet of Things. They already experience the benefits of the cloud.
“By working with IBM, we are not only teaching students about the cloud, we’re inspiring them to come up with more ideas to leverage the cloud for everything from their daily personal computing needs to jumpstarting their entrepreneurial dreams to coming up with innovative ideas for their future employers.”