Unreliable network infrastructure that disrupts cloud services is delaying further adoption of cloud computing for finance firms in the UK, a study has shown.
The recent study, conducted by network service provider Exponential-e, showed although financial institutions led widespread adoption of cloud computing, with around 37% of operations based in the cloud, improved services would facilitate a further increase.
Companies from a range of industries were questioned, and many expected the trend to the cloud to continue, with a predicted 43% of their services becoming cloud-based in the next year. Of firms in the financial sector, which require low-latency connectivity, 34% surveyed saw significant network outages in the last year.
These companies had experienced around 12 hours of network downtime over the past year, with over a quarter (27%) saying that they had experienced more than 12 hours of outage. Only 16% of businesses had seen no unplanned outages in the last year. Severe impacts were noted with 58% of unplanned connectivity outages affecting business workflow, followed by internal operations, employee productivity and client services.
“I think the message from our findings is clear: moving to cloud services can save companies time and money, but if your network layer is not sufficiently robust, the result is more likely to be greater downtime and revenue leakage,” said Lee Wade, CEO of Exponential-e.
“With UK businesses irrevocably increasing their dependence on cloud services, they cannot afford to be offline for one second. Moments of downtime can literally translate into thousands of pounds in lost revenue and, for companies in spheres like financial services, downtime can also result in regulatory infringement, fines and other penalties,” Wade said.
The research, which questioned IT managers and directors across the UK in various sectors, revealed that businesses clearly recognise the benefits cloud services can have on the bottom line. Of the 79% of businesses currently using cloud services, 84% see them as key to increasing productivity, 88% feel they open up an increased range of services and 83% think cloud is key to reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) for data centres.