Industry cloud research: security and data protection is still the most important feature for businesses

Cloud services that are tailored to a particular industry's needs -- cloud-based EHR systems for the healthcare industry, for example -- are still a growing market. Tech Pro Research conducted a survey in June 2016 to see how, or if, industry cloud service implementation has changed since the last poll on the topic in 2015.

The short answer is that not much has changed in a year. Roughly the same percentages of respondents said they're either using, considering, or not considering industry cloud services.

Another thing that hasn't changed: the importance respondents place on security and data protection. It continues to be the number one criteria for choosing an industry cloud provider.

Report author Mary Shacklett said that industry cloud services could start to gain more traction as businesses "better understand the value that cloud services can deliver in solving business and operational issues that have been elusive before with internal systems." But vendors will have to solve respondents' number one issue with industry cloud solutions: difficulty in integration with existing business processes. "Cloud providers have made progress with business function-specific systems because there are fewer integration points with in-house systems -- but when it comes to larger scale industry-specific applications, like cloud-based ERP, the integration challenges are still there," said Shacklett.

To find out more, and get expert analysis about Tech Pro Research's findings on industry cloud services, download the full report, Industry Cloud 2016: Adoption Plans, Decision Factors, Strategic Results

Tech Pro Research is the premium content sister site to ZDNet and TechRepublic.