Growing gap in the cloud
8 Mar 2013
Chasm developing between US and UK industrial businesses
There is a growing divide between US and UK companies with regard to automation and cloud computing, according to research carried out for Redwood Software.
The enterprise process automation firm commissioned Vanson Bourne to survey attitudes to cloud computing among 200 US and 100 UK organisations with over 1,000 employees. This found a difference of opinion in the cloud as a platform, and also very different usage patterns:
35% of UK businesses are already using the cloud for private data storage, as opposed to 58% of US businesses.
24% of UK businesses are using the cloud for capacity management, compared to 47% in the US.
About half as many UK organisations have considered a more integrated supply chain using the cloud, versus those in the US (41% vs 81%).
Twice as many US organisations are using the cloud to handle the automation of their business processes (30% compared to 14% in the UK).
Of respondents who were not using the cloud to manage business process automation, only 14% of US businesses felt that it wouldn’t give them enough control—compared to 27% of UK businesses.
This, said Rockwood, reflects trepidation in the UK towards adopting the technology. Instead, it was “lack of resources” that the US companies cited as the top reason for not utilising cloud technology in this way (28%).
US businesses were generally more positive about the benefits of cloud, citing “improved agility in supporting business needs” (71%), “faster ROI” (57%) and “reduced labor costs” (45%) as their the top benefits for adoption. This compared to more cautious UK figures of 47%, 36% and 29% respectively.
“American organisations seem to be worlds ahead in their knowledge, usage and confidence in the cloud,” said Tijl Vuyk, CEO at Redwood Software. “What will be interesting to see is whether this is a sign of things to come for UK businesses, and whether the perceived barriers to cloud adoption can be overcome.
“It will also be fascinating to monitor the timelines involved with this change in mindset, and whether the UK will ever catch up to the US or whether the US will continue to lead.”
