A new survey from TechTarget - Computer Weekly finds that the use of the cloud for disaster recovery (DR), backup, business continuity and Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) is expected to rise. The survey additionally found that cloud computing adoption is ready to move from Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to more sophisticated uses, although IT teams are continuing to move forward with antiquated DR practices at the same time.
Nearly 1,300 IT professionals believe that all cloud services will grow during the next six months, according to the survey. Those questioned believe that DR/backup, DaaS and hybrid cloud integration will make major leaps, and that the adoption of the cloud for those services will rise from 17.9 percent now to 28.5 percent within six months.
Those professionals also believe the adoption of SaaS will go down from 47.7 percent to 40.4 percent during the same time period. SaaS marks the only cloud service anticipated to decline during what will largely be a major growth phase. Cloud use for DR services, in the meantime, is largely being driven by businesses seeking a better analysis of unstructured or big data, as well as ways to better protect that data.
The survey found that the use of cloud storage services for disaster recovery will rise from 36 percent to a whopping 51 percent during the next six months. DR-as-a-Service (DRaaS) describes a predetermined set of processes that are offered by a third-party vendor to help an enterprise develop as well as implement a disaster recovery plan.
Furthermore, the study found that even though this segment is slated for massive growth, only 43 percent of those surveyed said they can recover using cloud-based computing services and DR data stored in the cloud. Additionally, only 25 percent of respondents said that they have tested a cloud DR service.
The TechTarget survey respondents continue to use archaic DR practices, as based on their answers to the study. In addition to not implementing cloud DR services, 43 percent of those surveyed said they also ship their DR data to another physical recovery site, while 34 percent said they still put their DR data on tape.
A number of challenges are also emerging for SaaS, according to the study. Up to 42 percent of respondents said SaaS applications may create integration and interoperability challenges, while 38 percent said data integration issues like incompatible database formats may be an issue. An additional 29 percent noted that available customization of SaaS may not be adequate to meet their needs.
Performance of SaaS was also cited as an issue for 20 percent of respondents, with additional challenges including a lack of features, functionality and portability; migration problems and vendor downtime.
Edited by
Allison Boccamazzo
