Security and Control Greatest Concerns From Adopting Cloud Storage

Nasuni Corporation released the findings of a recent survey of IT leaders’ views on cloud storage.

The survey revealed that 81 percent of IT decision makers have concerns about data security in the cloud, and 48 percent were concerned about the level of control they would have over data stored in the cloud. Together, these two concerns were by far the greatest areas of worry for IT professionals when it comes to storing data in the cloud.

Notably, this assessment was consistent across industries – deviating very little among the industries represented, which included business services, education, financial services, government, healthcare, manufacturing, and software and telecommunications.

Only 43 percent of IT decision makers plan to store data in the cloud over the next 12 months. But according to Chris Glew, Product Evangelist at Nasuni, if IT does not seek out enterprise-grade cloud storage solutions that address security and data control concerns, they will likely find that their users adopt much less secure consumer solutions to attain the functionality they desire.

"Our recent survey makes painfully clear the quandary the cloud presents to IT leaders," Glew said. "They clearly understand the promise of cloud storage for cost savings, off-site backup, unlimited scale, simpler IT management, and on-demand provisioning, but they are also rightfully concerned about the security of their data and whether they have control over it at all times. Unfortunately, this will not deter users who, eager to realize the benefits of cloud storage, are all too often willing to use consumer-oriented offerings without IT’s permission. As the headlines often show, while these services are fine for sharing information among friends, they are potentially disastrous for enterprises. IT needs to seek out enterprise-grade storage-as-a-service-solutions that deliver the benefits of the cloud in a way that truly addresses these security and control concerns."

The survey was fielded by Nasuni and was completed by 451 IT decision makers at North American enterprises.

While there was a great deal of consensus around concerns with cloud storage, there was little consensus on the reasons to adopt cloud storage – with cost savings, off-site backup, unlimited scale, less IT management, on-demand provisioning, reliability and security all being chosen as drivers to store data in the cloud with similar consistency. Within the telecommunications and software industry, more than 56 percent of organizations plan to store data in the cloud over the next 12 months. Perhaps not coincidentally, this industry was also the most likely of all industries surveyed to have had to recover from a storage disaster over the past 12 months (41 percent).

Additional findings

• Data growth continues: Without exception, respondents expect significant data growth to continue. Notably, IT leaders in the financial services sector expect to see the greatest increase, with a cumulative average of 9.7 additional terabytes ver the next 12 months. Those in education expect to see the smallest increase reported by the industries represented – a still sizable 5.5 TB of growth.
• Larger companies enjoy significant economies of scale in managing cost: The survey revealed that larger organizations will spend less per employee for data storage, despite the fact bigger companies generally experience faster data growth. On average, spending on data storage per employee broke down as follows: (201-500 employees: $320 per employee), (501-1,000 employees: $294 per employee), (1,001-2,500 employees: $148 per employee), and (2,501-5,000 employees: $87 per employee).

"This survey demonstrates the need for a new, cost-effective approach to storage that harnesses the unlimited capacity of the cloud in a way that guarantees data is always secure, always available, and always under IT’s control," added Glew. "Nasuni’s storage services – which unify on-premise storage controllers with the highest-performing CSP providers and a strong SLA – add the intelligence, security and ease-of-use that the enterprise requires. With IT’s concern for security and control of data addressed, small and medium-sized enterprises can now embrace cloud storage with complete confidence that they are making the best technology and business decision."