Stefan Mileschin

The world+dog thinks that the Cloud is not secure, but this is not borne out by those who actually use it.

A UK study of SMEs by comScore has revealed that more than half of non-Cloud users cited concerns about security by as a barrier to adoption.

But more than 94 percent of cloud users experienced security benefits.

Most cloud users said the biggest benefits were that fewer internal IT resources were needed and noted the time saved in managing IT.

But this contrasted with the non-Cloud users, more than 45 percent of whom were worried that using the Cloud would result in a lack of control over their data.

More than 68 percent of cloud users said their levels of privacy protection increased by moving to the cloud and 45 percent said they felt "very comfortable" with their cloud provider's ability to manage data privacy.

More than half non-Cloud users expressed concerns about reliability, and 82 percent of cloud users said they experienced improved service availability since moving to the Cloud.

Most Cloud users said they were confident their provider could restore services during an outage quickly and efficiently.

Adrienne Hall, general manager of Trustworthy Computing at Microsoft, which commissioned the study, said that the results show the perception gap closes quickly once people experience cloud services.

But it does mean that outfits like Microsoft have a job on their hands convincing users to move to the Cloud in the first place.

Microsoft has launched a Cloud Security Readiness Tool to help enterprises assess their current IT environments and how they could benefit from best-practice cloud services. It is based on the Cloud Security Alliance's Cloud Controls Matrix.

http://news.techeye.net/business/uk-...ud-perceptions