IT Industry Trends: Cloud backup on the rise for 2015
Spiceworks has released its two annual IT industry trend reports. They present a positive outlook for the future of cloud products, including online backup.
To kick off 2015, Spiceworks has released its two annual IT industry trend reports. As many of you know, Spiceworks is an online community that allows IT pros and tech vendors to connect and discuss everything happening in the world of technology. Each year, Spiceworks surveys its users and puts together the State of IT report.
The State of IT report surveyed 1,121 IT pros in a variety of roles in different industries. This report covers everything from business trends like budgeting and staffing to tech adoption trends including cloud, virtualization, mobile and more.
The IT Budget Report surveyed over 600 IT pros about their IT budgets for 2015. Topics included spending, priorities, continuing and new projects, staffing and other decision-making items.
Both reports give an interesting look at what’s going on in the IT world. Additionally, both reports present a positive outlook for the future of cloud products, including online backup and recovery. Let’s take a look at what the reports have to say.
State of IT: “No longer just a fluffy IT buzzword, the cloud is here to stay.”
According to the report, cloud adoption among IT pros is on the rise.
- 61% have already adopted cloud services in their organization
- 41% of those using cloud services are using cloud backup and recovery services
- Of IT pros using cloud services at organizations with less than 19 employees, 60% use cloud backup and recovery services
- Online backup and recovery was the number one cloud service IT pros planned to implement in the next six months
These findings highlight one of the major benefits of cloud services, especially for small business: scalability. As Spiceworks states in the report, “the cloud is helping IT departments scale infrastructure and keep costs low.”
IT Budget Report: “When it comes to new purchases for cloud-based projects, online backup/recovery is out ahead.”
When it comes to budgeting, cloud services occupy a growing percentage of total IT budgets.
- 14% of the average cloud services budget is devoted to online backup and recovery
- 14% of all IT pros surveyed planned to add new online backup and recovery services in 2015
- 35% already have recurring online backup and recovery services in place
While a majority (57%) of IT pros saw their company’s revenue increase from 2014 to 2015, only 33% saw their IT budget increase accordingly. 44% saw no change and 12% saw a decrease in their IT budget. With tight budgets across the board, IT pros need to prioritize and cloud backup is an efficient way to make the most of limited resources.
What does this all mean for the IT industry?
Strained budgets often means aging equipment and the risk of hardware failure drastically increasing. If an organization has already experienced hardware failure resulting in data loss, the investment in cloud backup services becomes an even more obvious choice. Cloud storage solutions are an excellent option for businesses ranging from small to multinational. Data stored in the cloud reduces the risk of catastrophic data loss from situations like device not detected or computer not recognizing hard drive.
Smaller budgets and improving cloud technology make online backup a great choice for scalability and cost effectiveness for IT pros at any organization.
What IT projects will your organization invest in for 2015?
