Majority say their firms implementing cloud services: Survey

New Delhi: As cloud computing is changing the way IT solutions are delivered, majority of professionals say their organisations are planning to implement or working on a cloud-related initiative in the next 12 months, a survey by virtualisation solutions firm VMware said on Tuesday.

VMware's fourth annual Cloud Index study, conducted by Forrester Research across 12 Asia Pacific countries including India, reveals that 89 percent of the respondents covered in India believe Cloud Computing is relevant to their firms.

"Nearly 8 of every 10 (79 percent) respondents in India say they currently have a cloud-related initiative in place within the organisation or are planning to implement cloud or 'as-a-service' approach, in the next 12 months," the study said.

The study added that nearly 9 of every 10 (89 percent) respondents in India believe Cloud Computing or 'as-a-service' approach, is relevant to their organisations.

An interesting trend according to the VMware Cloud Index 2013 is that Indian organisations are turning to IT to help them grow the business in the current economic environment.

IT is seen as a change enabler and source of business value for organisations by 85 percent of the respondents, it added.

In terms of the top business priorities in India over the next 12 months, the study said 87 percent of the IT decision makers put improving the quality and capabilities of their products and 85 percent pointed to addressing the rising expectations of customers and improving customer satisfaction.

The study also shows that the current perception of IT remains positive in India with 63 percent of respondents noting that the perceived credibility, influence and power of the CIO in their organisation is increasing.

"Business priorities are clearly shifting at a time when optimism is slowly returning to the Indian economy," VMware India Managing Director T Srinivasan said.

Continued investment and innovation in end-user computing by companies like VMware, are helping IT organisations free the desktop, redefine the corporate workspace and embrace a new way of working in the mobile cloud era, Srinivasan said.

While, 71 percent of IT decision makers are concerned about end users accessing corporate systems and applications from mobile devices, 73 percent believe their organisations are able to keep up with the end user computing needs of their employees, it said.

"In fact, 65 percent claim to already having a formal strategy in place for supporting end user computing, clearly showing that Indian businesses are acting to cater to the needs of the new age worker," the survey added.