Though attention may be riveted on news of the latest addition to the royal family, studies from industry analyst Forrester Research suggests that those in the United Kingdom might be better served by directing their focus toward improving technological prowess. Recent findings from the top industry analyst show that only one-third of UK enterprises are employing cloud computing solutions.
Forrester’s data places the UK behind European neighbors France and Germany in terms of cloud computing growth. The news could come as a surprise given that among European countries, the UK spends the greatest amount on technology hardware, allocating nearly one-third of its IT budgets. Over the past 12 months, this has included a 10 percent increase in investment in on-premise equipment and software.
According to Andrew Bartels, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, potential reasons for the lack of cloud enthusiasm could include insufficient security levels offered by third-party platforms. Bartel add that many firms might also have doubts as to the cost-effective nature of the solution as an alternative to current infrastructure.
One industry within the UK, however, is embracing the cloud. Over half of the UK’s utilities telecommunication firms are adopting offsite services as the sector spearheads projects involving the application of mobile-based services.
In January, a similar report from Vanson Bourne demonstrated that the UK was much more cautious about adopting cloud services in comparison to the United States. At the time, the data showed that while 58 percent of U.S. businesses were using the cloud to store private data, only 35 percent of UK firms had demonstrated the same interest.
UK survey respondents were also much more hesitant to laud the positive benefits of cloud computing. Only 36 percent cited better return on investment and 29 percent on reduced labor costs in comparison to the 57 percent and 45 percent of US respondents, respectively.
As a provider of disruptive, award-winning cloud and virtual call center software, Vocalcom firmly believes in the power of cloud computing for advancing call center operations. Where do you think cloud computing is headed in the UK?
