A survey of UK and US businesses found that cloud computing had increased profits by up to 75 percent and heavily reduced spending on technology.
The survey, evenly split between the UK and the US, polled 1,300 organisations, 1,000 of which were SMEs. The survey was commissioned by cloud computing company Rackspace and carried out by Manchester Business School and marketing agency Vanson Bourne.
Most companies (85 percent) had increased their profits, particularly in the US. A third had increased profits between 10 percent and 25 percent, and a further fifth of respondents had seen a rise of between 25 percent and 50 percent which was directly attributable to investments in cloud computing, the researchers found.
Cloud computing had a more dramatic impact on the smaller companies surveyed. About 250 SMEs (or a quarter surveyed) said they had increased profits by at least 25 percent and by up to 75 percent as a result of using cloud computing.
Increased profits were linked to substantial decreases in technology spending. Nearly 90 percent of respondents claimed cloud computing had lowered their IT bill. More than a fifth (over 200) of the SMEs said they had saved between 25 percent and 50 percent in IT costs. Another 40 percent said their savings were between 10 percent and 25 percent.
“If you wish to implement your own system and network servers then you will need to hire technical administrators. Although the system may cost less, the human resources hired are going to be very expensive,” said Prem Sharma, chief technology officer at Ubicab, one of companies surveyed.
Over half of the SMEs (50 percent) said they could focus more on strategy and innovation as a result of not needing a dedicated IT team.
Participating companies largely came from the financial services, retail, technology, manufacturing, business and professional services, media, logistics, and mobile telecommunications sectors.
Image credit: Rackspace