Smaller firms take a shine to cloud computing

Interest in cloud computing among smaller firms is rapidly building momentum, a new study suggests.

Half of small and medium-sized UK businesses plan to use cloud computing in 2010, more than double the figure of 22 percent for 2009, according to research for ISP Easynet Connect by OpinionMatters, published on Tuesday.

"Cloud computing has been on the business radar for some time, and our report proves we are at the tipping point for mass adoption among small and medium-sized businesses," Easynet Connect managing director Chris Stening said in a statement.

In December 2009, the ISP repeated the small-business survey it had conducted just over a year earlier and found the number of companies saying they would never use cloud computing had fallen from 53 percent to 27 percent.

Those planning to use cloud computing within the next five years had increased to 73 percent from 47 percent — and 2010 was cited most frequently as the year when adoption would take place.

The number of smaller organisations already using cloud computing stands at 13 percent, a figure that shows only a modest increase on 2008. The survey suggests it is the larger firms in the small-business category, with between 100 and 250 employees, that are most likely to use the technology.

Cost savings and improved remote working were the most popular reasons for adoption at 51 percent and 43 percent, while barriers such as cloud security concerns and reliability polled only 13 percent and nine percent.