All U.S. Government Units, Higher Ed Moving Apps to Cloud

source: MeriTalk

Some 82 percent of cloud adopters in federal, state, local government and higher education say their organization will increase spending on cloud computing in 2017, according to a survey sponsored by NetApp and Avnet Government Solutions and conducted for MeriTalk,  a public-private partnership focused on improving the outcomes of government information technology.

Cloud adopters plan to nearly double their cloud use over the next five years, from 35 percent of applications up to 60 percent.

Cloud adopters are significantly more likely to select private cloud services over public clouds for apps that handle sensitive information (78 percent prefer private cloud, 14 percent prefer public cloud)

Roughly the same pattern is seen for or are highly specialized apps, where 69 percent of respondents prefer a private cloud solution, and 21 percent prefer a public cloud solution.

source: MeriTalk

While 89 percent of cloud adopters see benefits to using the public cloud, such as cost savings and speed of deployment, 95 percent also see drawbacks, such as security/privacy concerns and reliability concerns.

Today, 55 percent of cloud adopters are evaluating cloud solutions as part of their overall IT strategy and the remaining 45 percent are evaluating cloud solutions for a limited number of specific applications.

Cloud adopters report that cost saving is a key cloud driver – 65 percent of Federal, 67 percent of state and local, and 59 percent of higher education.

In addition, respondents say they now look to cloud options first when considering new investments – 65 percent Federal, 56 percent state and local, and 63 percent higher education.