The novel coronavirus and the disease caused by it (COVID-19) are not just increasing toilet paper and hand sanitizer sales; they’re also pushing the pace of enterprise cloud adoption.
A survey conducted by Snow Software included the responses of 250 global IT leaders and investigated how the pandemic has impacted how they are utilizing and investing in technology.
Among the respondents, 82% indicated that they had increased their pace of cloud adoption as a direct response to the COVID-19 crisis and the resulting shift to remote work. Sixty percent say that the use of off-site technologies has been in constant growth since March 2020.
Some regions are beginning to roll back restrictions and allow for increased movement and small gatherings, with many offices able to reopen and welcome teams back to work. Even with the opportunity to move workers back in-office, many enterprises are not likely to slow down on their cloud strategies, with 66% reporting that they will continue increasing cloud use.
For some enterprises, there was a surge in cloud adoption at the beginning of the pandemic, with 22% reporting an initial increase in cloud investments. As they become more settled into their new work environments and strategies, that push for cloud adoption is leveling off.
Over three-quarters (76%) reported that COVID-19 led to increased spending on public and private cloud infrastructure service, and over half (55%) said they had increased their investment in collaboration tools accessed in the cloud. Reliance on video conferencing technologies has become more critical.
There are multiple layers to the trends observed related to the pandemic. The increase of cloud-based productivity tools is notable, but it’s the interest in cloud infrastructure solutions that is more indicative of a major change in how enterprises are operating. It suggests that COVID-19 may have initiated a shift in how enterprises are approaching cloud strategies.
IT teams are being tasked with the continued support of remote teams, while supporting an eventual (or more immediate, depending on local COVID-19 numbers) return to the office. For many enterprises, there’s also the question of shrinking budgets. Overall, 91% of respondents said they were making changes to their cloud strategy.
Among those altering their cloud adoption strategies, 45% said it will be in the form of an acceleration of their plans, and 22% said they plan to place a hold on cloud strategies.
The economic piece is significant. Thirty-two percent of respondents reported having to get creative with their budgets to cover existing cloud costs. In fact, 32% said they were currently attempting to renegotiate a cloud contract, and another 10% said they would not be able to pay for services this month.
The pandemic has increased the necessity of cloud adoption for many organizations, while also highlighting for others the costly complexities of managing storage and usage. At a time when IT is being asked to reduce costs, they can answer these demands with cloud solutions that both trim the budget and help future-proof the business.
Is COVID-19 impacting your cloud adoption strategy? Contact us at Clarksys to learn more about reducing costs and improving the support of remote work through cloud technology.
