7 out of 10 businesses are moving to the cloud despite the risks

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Equinix, a global interconnection and data centre company, has announced the findings of an independent survey of over 1,200 senior IT professionals from across Europe, Middle East and Africa. Results show that more than seven in 10 (71%) organisations are likely to move more of their business functions to the cloud in the coming years. 60% of EMEA IT leaders cite proximity to cloud service providers (CSPs) as an integral factor when choosing a data centre in their local market.

Despite more business moving to the cloud, 70% of these same respondents still perceive there to be cybersecurity risks around cloud adoption. Large public data breaches have caused uncertainty among companies, leading to 45% of respondents focusing on improving their organisation’s cybersecurity as their biggest IT priority.

Cloud and cybersecurity considerations together are at the forefront of IT executives’ minds across the region. For nearly half (48%) of those surveyed, the adoption of cloud-based services represented one of the top two factors that will impact their business in the future — second only to cybersecurity risks and breaches (53%). The company says the results also showed that companies across EMEA are twice as likely to connect with CSPs than any other product or service provider.

Comparatively in the UK, over two thirds of businesses (67%) believe that cybersecurity risks and breaches will be the top factor impacting their business in the future, a higher rate than for organisations across EMEA. More respondents (75%) are also said to believe their organisation will move more to the cloud. Nearly one third (31%) of IT professionals surveyed think cloud service providers are the type of business their organisation is most likely to connect with in the future. This figure is significantly greater than the next businesses organisations are most likely to connect with – network providers (9%) and financial institutions (9%). Despite Brexit, 64% of senior IT decision-makers in the UK also believe that due to the UK’s flourishing data centre industry, the UK is the best place in Europe to interconnect with partners, customers, supply chain and cloud service providers.

Russell Poole, managing director UK, Equinix concludes, “With so many UK businesses planning a move to the cloud in the near future, and at a faster rate than businesses across EMEA, it is clear that the UK is at the forefront of EMEA’s digital economy. That 64% of the UK’s IT leaders believe that the UK is still the best place in Europe to interconnect with partners, customers and CSPs due to the UK’s flourishing data centre industry, despite political uncertainty, is testament to the resilience of the UK’s digital infrastructure. Last week’s announcement of Equinix’s new £90M LD7 data centre at our London Slough campus, highlights our confidence that London will remain a leader in the global digital economy.”