While cloud computing makes a compelling business case, many CIOs are still concerned about making this technology shift for fear of the potentially unforeseen costs involved, according to the results of a new study. In fact, the Compuware (News - Alert) poll revealed concerns over the hidden costs of cloud has been cited by nearly 80 percent of tech managers, ranging from unexpected system bottlenecks to loss of customers.
Despite such concerns, cloud continues to grow at impressive rates. By 2016, cloud software will account for 56 percent of global enterprise software sales of $370 billion, versus 43 percent of $303 billion this year, according to research firm Gartner (News - Alert).
Furthermore, based on the survey results, CIOs rated cloud computing as their top investment priority in both the short and long term, with integration between public, hybrid and private cloud cited as the most important trend in the cloud computing space over the next five years, according to Bernd Greifeneder, CTO of Compuware’s APM (News - Alert) business unit.
“With cloud adoption topping the list of priorities for CIOs, companies are clearly seeing a benefit to the agility, flexibility and time-to-value that cloud services can deliver,” Greifeneder said in a statement. “But CIOs are right to carefully consider the impact cloud and third-party services can have on end-user experience. The dynamic and remote characteristics of cloud-based applications require a new, smart and automatic approach for deep, proactive monitoring that not only identifies end-user experience problems but also provides deep diagnostics for problem resolution.”
Other important findings from the study include the following data points:
Some 64 percent of companies cited potential poor end-user experience due to performance bottlenecks as their chief concern about the cloud. That issue got the greatest response.
The impact of poor performance on brand reputation and/or customer loyalty was a worry of 51 percent of respondents.
The third most pressing concern was loss of revenue due to cloud service problems, cited by 43.5 percent of the companies.
While security has been frequently cited as the biggest concern over cloud computing, that’s no longer the case, Stephen Pierzchala, technical strategist for Compuware, told Investors.com.
“Two years ago, security would have been at the top of the list, but now performance and the actual experience have become a higher priority,” he said.