Enter “cloud migration challenges” into Google and in less than a second, you’ll have nearly three million opinions on just how miserable your life is about to become (you’re welcome).
That’s because cloud migration is, in fact, scary. I recognize this likely isn’t the kind of startling revelation you’ve come to expect from The Platform Leader, but before you start yelling, “Thanks, Captain Obvious!” let me provide one more opinion to consider: some of those challenges may actually be overly exaggerated—in particular, cloud security.
Better? Here’s why I think this might be the case: a new survey from Longitude Research—sponsored by Oracle and Intel—suggests that some of the key concerns companies have about migrating to cloud turn out not to be so true after all. The survey, Cloud Insights, polled 730 C-suite and senior IT executives from 13 countries around the world, segmenting the responses by, among other things, level of cloud maturity (low, medium, and high). Low-cloud-exposure companies had less than 50 percent of their applications in the cloud; medium-exposure companies had 50-69 percent; while high-exposure companies had more than 70 percent.
In some instances, opinions of the cloud shifted significantly as companies gained more experience in the cloud. In many cases, the results suggest that companies experience some initial growing pains in their cloud migrations that ultimately give way to significant rewards—sometimes around the things experts identify as obstacles to cloud migration. Perceptions of security in the cloud—often cited as a top concern for companies looking to migrate—followed that path, according to the survey. Fifty-four percent of respondents with low exposure to the cloud said they felt there were major security issues around moving to cloud. That number actually increased to 60 percent for companies with medium exposure, but then plummeted 15 points to 45 percent for those with high cloud exposure.
For Skanska, the Swedish-based multinational construction and development company, improved cloud security makes complete sense. “Why do people think they’re more secure running their own platforms internally than going to a cloud vendor?” said Conny Björling, head of enterprise architecture. “If the vendor is treating the service in the right way, it’s probably more secure than running it internally in your own data center.”
In addition, despite the fact that companies often fear that the cloud will make them more vulnerable to cyber-security threats, 65 percent of cloud-mature companies rated their threat-detection skills as good or very good. Only thirty-eight percent of less-cloud-mature companies rated their organizations as good or very good at cyber-security threat detection.
The survey also unearthed a few hidden insights, particularly around lesser-known benefits of cloud migration. For example, 71 percent of cloud-mature companies reported that they feel the cloud positively impacts the speed of application development, while only 47 percent of less-cloud-mature companies say the same. In addition, 74 percent of cloud-mature companies say the cloud has impacted their ability to compete, while only 50 percent of less-mature companies say the same.
For more insights into how perceptions of the cloud are shifting as companies gain more experience with it, download the survey here.