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compliance rules, driven by both internal
policy and external regulation.
“Hybrid cloud is very much the future
and the results of Cloudian’s research
efforts bear that out,” said Scott Lowe,
partner at research firm ActualTech Me-
dia. “Although the public
cloud is enticing, there
remain technical, security,
cost and regulatory hur-
dles that can be difficult
to overcome for many.”
It should also be noted
that channel partners
have significant education-
al responsibilities when it
comes to defining cloud
storage in general for end
users. The report explains
that people equate all
kinds of common services
with cloud storage.
In fact, almost half of
respondents say that they
are using a file synchro-
nization and sharing ser-
vice such as Dropbox or
OneDrive, which they equate with cloud
storage, which, to be fair, it is. Another
40 percent of respondents are using
storage that exists in some of kind
SaaS application such as Salesforce
or Office 365 (40 percent). Less than
one-third of respondents are using what
has become known as a cloud storage
gateway (31 percent), which combines
a local appliance with cloud-based stor-
age. Even fewer (21 percent) are using
enterprise cloud storage. Finally, only 18
percent are using a local ap-
plication that leverages cloud
storage in some way.
The key takeaway here is
that organizations are figuring
out how to leverage cloud stor-
age for specific applications,
such as file sharing, e-mail
and the like, but they continue
to struggle when it comes to
more general purpose storage
needs as it relates to cloud.
“Users are looking for
options to capitalize on the
value of both cloud and
on-premises storage,” said
Lowe. “However, this research
shows that significant confu-
sion remains about what’s
available and how the underly-
ing technology works.”
o
Business Analysts as Percentage of IT Staff
Source: Comp t r Economics
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
0%
4%
8% 7.4%
6.3% 6.6%
7.2%
7.3%
12%
Median
Source: Cloudian
When do you intend to deploy cloud storage to support
specific applications running on premises?
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Small
(1 to 499 employees)
Medium
(500 to 2,499 employees)
Large
(2,500 or more employees)
Small
(1 to 499 employees)
Medium
(500 to 2,499 employees)
Large
(2,500 or more employees)
Small
(1 to 499 employees)
Medium
(500 to 2,499 employees)
Large
(2,500 or more employees)
We have no plans to
adopt hybrid cloud
storage
Considering
adoption more than
1 year out
Planning implement
within the
next year
62%
77%
82%
19%
20%
14%
19%
3%
5%
25
January - February, 2017
|
Channel
Vision