For the Cloud to succeed, security and data privacy concerns need to be addressed head on

Data security continues to be the leading concern for organisations looking to migrate to the cloud. This is the finding of the latest research from the Cloud Industry Forum. Furthermore, according to CIF member Simplexo, when compared to 2011 those concerns have increased amongst end users year on year.

The research, conducted in July 2012 by the Cloud Industry Forum, found that the most significant concern about the adoption of cloud services within the business was data security. This was cited by 82 per cent of the sample, up from 62 per cent in 2011. The issue of data privacy also saw a leap up from 55 per cent in 2011 to 69 per cent in 2012.

Simon Bain, CTO, Simplexo, stated: “The background debate that consumes the mo st time and attention are not necessarily related to technology but rather still relate back to the more commercial and governance related issues of data security, protection, sovereignty and portability.”

According to the research when asked what the top three concerns were for organisations considering cloud provisioning data security was the key issue at 82 per cent.  This was followed by data privacy on 69 per cent and finally the reliance and availability of internet access.

“These findings indicate a clear pattern. Not only are there significant concerns at the beginning of the cloud procurement path, but they remain. In fact comparing the figures year on year they have not only done so but actually increased. So for the cloud customer confidence in security and privacy is crucial otherwise we could face a looming issue of disillusionment in cloud provisioning,”

“The challenge for cloud providers will be convincing customers that the risks of the cloud don’t outweigh the benefits – and those risks include the exposure of data through security incidents.

Simon concluded: “These figures also tell us that when IT departments choose cloud services, they quiet rightly consider security and compliance as well as issues such as price and convenience. That is all very well when it comes to procurement, but do the ultimate end users – employees – consider these concerns especially with the rise of BYOD and the increasing use of ‘consumer-grade’ services such as Dropbox?”