UK businesses have been slow to move to the cloud because of concerns over data loss and compliance breaches, according to the 2020 UK Veritas Databerg Report. It showed that just 47% of corporate data is currently stored in the cloud, despite IT decision makers believing 43% would be held in the cloud within 12 months during the last Databerg report back in 2015.
The study revealed that the current fears regarding data loss and compliance breaches has replaced other reservations organizations had regarding cloud adoption in 2015; whilst 77% highlighted security as a challenge to cloud adoption in 2015, this has fallen to 59% today. In addition, concerns over the unpredictability of the cloud fell from 49% in 2015 to 21% in 2020.
Another finding from the report was that just 19% of enterprise data is regarded as usable and business critical, whereas 28% is redundant, obsolete or trivial (ROT). Additionally, 53% is considered dark, i.e. stored without knowledge of what it is or its value.
Jasmit Sagoo, UK & Ireland CTO at Veritas Technologies, commented: “Businesses have negotiated the cloud challenges of 2015, but old fears are being replaced by new ones – and these need to be overcome if companies are going to meet their transformational goals. Concerns around cloud security and unpredictability may have been resolved, but they have been replaced by fear of data loss and compliance breaches, 55% and 54% respectively. This is understandable, given the wider data challenges that organizations often have, many of which can be exacerbated by a multi-cloud strategy.”
Nevertheless, the IT decision makers surveyed expect cloud adoption to increase well above the current rate within the next year, predicting that 64% of enterprise data will be stored in the cloud over the coming 12 months.
A key driver of cloud adoption is to reduce IT costs, according to the report, cited by 66% of businesses.