Why are so many organizations sticking with on-premise processing?

We all know, ‘Cloud’ is a big movement. Everybody is moving to the cloud, right? Not so fast. The move to cloud continues, but many SMBs are sticking with on-premise processing.

Some have even moved stuff back off the cloud. Cloud is no longer seen as a universal panacea, but rather as one component of a multiplatform processing mix.

Why is this so? Many of the answers can be found in our 2020 Business IT Trends Annual Report, based on responses from 726 individuals in IT decision-making or decision-influencing positions in North America, Australia/New Zealand (ANZ) and – for the first time – the United Kingdom (UK).

This year’s report found that the biggest areas of investment in SMB organizations are in the traditional areas of hardware and software. Desktop and laptop PCs dominate hardware investment, followed by servers. Expenditure on software is occurring across the board, with core infrastructure investments being the most important element. Investment in cloud technologies is way behind.

For most users, cloud technology has matured. Cloud processing is no longer regarded as a novelty but has become just another factor in the technology mix. Most organizations have adopted a hybrid approach, mixing cloud and on-premise applications as appropriate. Investment decisions are made on the basis of what works best.

Security is the biggest issue

At the top of both hardware and software investment plans is security, which has become of paramount importance. Investment in security systems is growing at a faster rate than most other areas of technology. Every question in the survey that touched on security showed massive growth. All areas of security expenditure were growing, and as technology has evolved, awareness of security has increased.

More than 80% of responding organizations will invest in antivirus/spyware/malware software in 2020, with strong investment also in network security and web and email security. Most areas of security will show significant investment.

But many organizations are relying too strongly on a piecemeal approach to security, introducing point solutions on a tactical basis rather than adopting a proactive and integrated information security strategy. The survey suggests that many users, rightly or wrongly, remain wary of the cloud for security reasons.

Cloud services providers point out that cloud security is often superior to what a user could implement in on-premise systems. They may have a point, but they have yet to convince many users.

Although investment in Cloud compared to on-premise is a lower priority Cloud has not stalled. Far from it. Many users are investing heavily. The role of cloud computing continues to expand and accelerate as cloud business applications deliver artificial intelligence, machine learning and other new capabilities that smaller businesses would not be able to deploy on their own. But very few organizations are moving everything to the cloud. In fact, many are rethinking their IT infrastructure requirements to support the needs of their business both today and into the future.

Learn More

To learn more about the findings for this year, please download the report.