The Silver Lining

Silver LiningBuilding business in the cloud

The

RemarkResearch from the Financial Times Group

MethodologyIn Q2 2014, FT Remark, on behalf of Oracle, interviewed 150 chief technology officers (CTOs), chief information officers (CIOs), or the equivalent, to understand how businesses are implementing cloud, how it is helping them, and the challenges they are facing. The survey pool was evenly divided by respondent geography, with 50 each from France, Germany and the UK. To qualify for the study, all respondents’ firms must already use cloud, or have concrete plans to implement cloud within the next year. All responses are anonymous and presented in the aggregate.

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ContentsThe cloud atlas: an overview of the UK, France and Germany 4

Introduction 6

Key findings 7

Cloud control 8

Reaching inside the cloud: cloud implementation 10

Climbing into the cloud 18

Clearing the fog: overcoming cloud challenges 20

Cloud choice 28

A unique cloud model for every business 30

Conclusion: on cloud nine 38

Glossary of terms 40

About Oracle 41

About FT Remark 42

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The cloud atlasAn overview of the drivers of cloud adoption in the UK, France and Germany, including departmental implementation, proportion of IT budget spend and most important steps.

UK

France

Germany

cite sales/CRM as the most important department for cloud implementation

36%named marketing as the most important department for cloud implementation

24%

anticipate spending more than 10% of their overall IT spending on cloud

86%

32%cite operating

costs as the main driver of

implementation

96%implement cloud infrastructure differently across different departments

68%implement cloud infrastructuredifferently across different departments

32%spend 10% or less on cloud as a proportion of overall IT spending

named the CIO or CTOas the main decision maker

around cloud

48%

cite obtaining business managers’buy-in as the most important

step in adopting cloud

22%

named lower infrastructurecosts as the main driver

of cloud implementation

31%

cite allocating additional IT budget as the most important

step to cloud adoption

24%

cite lower infrastructurecosts as the main driver of

cloud implementation

40%

of respondents implement cloud infrastructure differently across different departments

77%

anticipate spending more than 10% of their total IT budget on cloud computing

73%of all respondents use cloud computing

87%named lower operating costs as the primary driver for cloud uptake

30%

4

The cloud atlasAn overview of the drivers of cloud adoption in the UK, France and Germany, including departmental implementation, proportion of IT budget spend and most important steps.

UK

France

Germany

cite sales/CRM as the most important department for cloud implementation

36%named marketing as the most important department for cloud implementation

24%

anticipate spending more than 10% of their overall IT spending on cloud

86%

32%cite operating

costs as the main driver of

implementation

96%implement cloud infrastructure differently across different departments

68%implement cloud infrastructuredifferently across different departments

32%spend 10% or less on cloud as a proportion of overall IT spending

named the CIO or CTOas the main decision maker

around cloud

48%

cite obtaining business managers’buy-in as the most important

step in adopting cloud

22%

named lower infrastructurecosts as the main driver

of cloud implementation

31%

cite allocating additional IT budget as the most important

step to cloud adoption

24%

cite lower infrastructurecosts as the main driver of

cloud implementation

40%


77%

anticipate spending more than 10% of their total IT budget on cloud computing

73%of all respondents use cloud computing

87%named lower operating costs as the primary driver for cloud uptake

30%

5

IntroductionCloud computing is transforming the way businesses operate, streamlining processes and creating greater cost efficiencies. Demand for cloud is exploding. Of the 150 executives interviewed for this report, 87% say their firm is already using cloud computing.

Corporate expenditure on cloud services is set to rise over the coming years, according to industry analyst Gartner, which predicts end-user spending on public cloud services to grow 19% in 2014 to US$158 bn.

Cloud can provide flexible, on-demand computing power without the need to invest in in-house IT infrastructure. In most cases, the only resources required to access cloud services are a web browser and an internet connection. Solutions are agile, allowing firms to adjust resources to meet fast-changing business needs. The cloud also provides unprecedented scope for innovation, allowing firms to experiment with new modes of service delivery at minimal cost.

Global workplacesCloud also supports – and is being driven by – rapid growth in mobile working, made possible by smartphones and tablets. Access to corporate

data and applications in the cloud mean staff can work anywhere, at any time – vital in a world where global operations are the new norm. Cloud-based collaboration tools, meanwhile, are transforming relationships between employees, partners and customers.

While these benefits are well known, it’s less clear how businesses are handling the process of cloud adoption and making the cloud work for them.

Cloud concernsCorporates need to carefully weigh the obvious benefits with the threat of security breaches, cyber attacks and cross-border compliance issues. For instance, the increase in mobile working is accompanied by an increase in cyber crime. While respondents indicated some concern around the security risks of cloud use, many underestimate this potential pitfall.

The interaction between existing legacy IT systems and cloud is another concern expressed by respondents, along with the potential for overlapping functionality, the budget allocation required, and how cloud should be coordinated and managed. Organisations have to adapt to new ways of operating. Cloud allows technology

to be aligned with business needs to an extent that has never been possible before. This can create new tensions as the balance of power shifts away from IT departments.

There’s also the question of how to access the right advice. There is currently no formal set of standards or best-practice information for cloud use, and firms are adopting a range of different strategies to bridge the knowledge gap.

Transforming your businessCloud benefits , such as increased agility, rapid implementation and scalability speed are being underestimated by firms as they prepare for the transition. Evidence suggests that organisations continue to regard the shift to cloud as a cost-saving exercise, rather than as a business transformation project. But cloud can be both.

To get to the bottom of these issues, on behalf of Oracle, FT Remark interviewed 150 chief technology officers (CTOs) and chief information officers (CIOs), or their companies’ equivalents. Through our research, we gained insight into businesses’ rationale behind cloud, the issues they encounter and how they are tailoring clouds to meet their individual needs.

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Key findings

87%Percentage of companies that use cloud computing

30% Percentage of firms that say lower operating costs is the primary driver for cloud uptake

77%Majority of respondents say they implement cloud infrastructure differently across different departments

76%More than three quarters of respondents use software as a service (SaaS) for cloud computing

31%Almost a third say the cloud affects their relationship with customers and partners, with the majority saying the effect is positive

6%Only a small percentage of respondents say they are concerned about cloud privacy and security97%

Nearly all respondents use public cloud in some capacity. By contrast, 61% use private cloud and 57% use hybrid

Are they underestimating security issues?

Cloud usage Costs and customers Security concerns

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Cloud controlThe driving forces behind the rise of cloud computing

Cloud coverageThe cloud is transforming the way the majority of businesses are working

Cloud coverage breakdownWhile cloud usage is almost ubiquitous, there is a difference of up to 12% between the countries in our survey

Cloud cuts costsCost is the main driving force behind cloud implementation

87%of respondents surveyed say

their company is already using cloud computing

UK

France

Germany

82%

84%

94%

Percentage of firms who use cloud computing

30%Lowering

operating costs

30%Lowering

infrastructure costs

19%Improving resource

allocation

7%Scalability

speed

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Which departments are implementing the cloud?Sales and marketing top the chart for business areas that most utilise the cloud

Who is your firm’s key decision maker around cloud?The CIO/CTO still takes the lead when it comes to cloud

CEO

33%

Executive board

13%

IT department

5%

CIO/CTO (or equivalent)

49%

Insights

1Cost is the overwhelming driver behind cloud implementation. Once implemented,

organisations tend to shift their focus to new areas, such as resource allocation.

2 Cloud computing is heavily concentrated in three departments, but leaders need to be

aware of the ever-changing cloud picture and ensure they act accordingly.

3 Installing a cloud leader at the outset can eliminate some of the problems outlined

in this chapter.

30%Sales/CRM

19% Marketing

15%Operations

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What’s driving cloud implementation?Cost is the overwhelming driving force behind corporate cloud implementation. When surveyed, 30% of respondents say that lower operating cost is the key driver. Reinforcing this point, a further 30% say that infrastructure costs are the major factor.

Businesses clearly recognise the transformational effect that cloud can have on corporate balance sheets. By shifting services onto the cloud, the costs associated with traditional IT, such as servers, software, staffing and maintenance, are considerably reduced. This has an impact on both capital and operational expenditure.

“By implementing cloud, we end up paying a low, predictable, flat-rate monthly fee per user for the software that we use, which means that we can scale up or down as our business needs demand,” explains one UK-based CIO. “When we take on more staff, we can switch on new licences immediately, and similarly turn off the tap if we scale down.”

Improved resource allocation is also seen as important by respondents, with 19% highlighting a more efficient use of people

and processes as their main reason for adopting cloud. For IT departments, this implies a transition to new value-added roles. “The IT workload is reduced because of cloud and the team is able to focus on improving the company by bringing new ideas that could enhance our processes,” says a France-based CIO.

Geographical differencesWhile there are significant areas of commonality between France, Germany and the UK, there are differences among respondents regarding the drivers underpinning cloud implementation. This is clearly seen with lower infrastructure costs: while 40% of French respondents point to this as the most important factor, only 20% of German respondents do so.

In part, these national variations can be accounted for by differences in maturity levels. Businesses in Germany are ahead of their counterparts in France and the UK in terms of cloud adoption, with 94% of German firms in the survey already using cloud. Based on our research, it seems that organisations tend to de-emphasise the importance of lower infrastructure costs once they start using cloud, with firms shifting focus to new areas of differentiation.

Reaching inside the cloudWhy are businesses implementing cloud computing?

30%

30%

27%

20% 40%

19% 24% 24%

8%

7% 0%

0% 0%

0% 0%

12% 8%

8%

8%

6%

6%

4%

4%

2%

1%

1% 2%

4%

10%

32% 32%

31%

Percentage of respondents

For your firm, what are the main drivers behind cloud implementation?(Please select the most important)

Germany FranceOverall UK

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Security and disaster recovery

Faster time to market

Create economies of scale

Faster implementation time

Scalability speed

Improved resource allocation

Lower infrastructure costs

Lower operating costs

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Another key area of variation is resource allocation. The UK and Germany place similar emphasis on this, with 24% of respondents from both countries selecting it as the most important factor. But only 8% of French respondents agree, with respondents incentivised by more obvious cost-saving factors.

This indicates that some respondents may be underestimating the potential of cloud computing in improving resource allocation, or are discounting it entirely. Variations in labour market flexibility might also be a factor, with French, German and British companies having different policy approaches to workforce changes.

The cloud divideWhile respondents overwhelmingly identified cost-related factors as the single-most important driver, a different picture emerges when a wider range of relevant drivers is taken into account.

The choices made by firms reveal that those who are about to embark on cloud, and those already using it, have significantly different ideas about what the most important factors are, especially where performance is concerned.

The push towards the cloud: How has cloud computing transformed business? By Paul McCartan, Vice President Sales Development at Oracle Western Europe

Every CIO wants to spearhead innovation and add value to the business. However, many of them worry that cloud computing takes some of the innovative power away from the IT department and puts it in the hands of other business departments. The truth is that CIOs are trusted authorities when it comes to cloud. By working with other leaders within the business, they can demonstrate the innovative potential of the technology first-hand.

An effective breakdown of this relationship would see CIOs reinvest capital expenditure savings to develop new cloud capabilities, with executives outside the IT function redefining their business processes to make the most of these efforts.

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‘Faster implementation’ is a case in point: no firms about to embark on cloud choose this as the most important driver. Yet in the case of firms already using cloud the proportion jumps to 7%.

These findings suggest that firms on the brink of cloud implementation are systematically underestimating the importance of key performance benefits: many organisations appear to be making the initial shift to the cloud on cost-saving grounds, rather than as a business transformation project.

Where do firms deploy cloud?Cloud is seldom implemented across an entire organisation as a single project. Instead, most organisations adopt a bespoke approach to cloud adoption.

Sales/CRM represents the single-most prominent department for cloud deployment, with 30% of firms implementing cloud solutions in this area. Marketing is the second most popular, with an average of 19% of organisations introducing cloud, followed by operations and logistics (15%) and product development (13%). Research, human resources and accounting amount to less than 10% each.

Cost-related factors are by far the biggest drivers for cloud implementation – overlooking other key performance benefits.

Cloud implementation is low on cost and is chargeable based on the number of users. Cloud providers look at maintenance, setups and upgrades, thereby easing the pressure on the domestic IT team and reducing direct costs to the company.”CIO, UK

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But these are average figures across all three nations surveyed: there are significant variations between countries. For example, German respondents (24%) point to marketing as the most important department in which they are implementing cloud, with sales/CRM ranked second (20%). Only 8% of French companies are implementing cloud in marketing, yet 20% are using it in operations and logistics and 18% in product development – significantly ahead of Germany and the UK on both measures.

Marketing cloudSales/CRM and, to a lesser extent, marketing, are likely to be the most popular for a number of reasons. First, the awareness of cloud software and services that meet the needs of sales/CRM and marketing departments is high and are well established. Second, cloud

supports 24/7 global operations and provides easy integration of multiple channels – vital in a world where the mode of engagement is steered by customer preference.

Cloud deployment across areas such as product development, research, HR and finance is less consistent. One potential reason for this is that the scale of such operations tends to be smaller, and any savings are therefore seen as being more modest.

Another factor is the availability of relevant cloud services and software – particularly alternative language versions of specialist applications. Awareness may also be a factor: the pace of change in cloud is rapid and new service classes – such as human capital management (HCM) and talent management – are constantly emerging.

30%

19% 24% 24%

8%

15% 10%

16% 20%

13%

9% 8%

8%

8% 8%

6%

6% 4%

2%

10%

12%

12%

10% 10%

18%

36% 20%

34%


In which departments/business areas is your firm implementing cloud infrastructure? (Please select the most important)


0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Finance/accounting

Human resources

Research

Product development

Operations/logistics

Marketing

Sales/CRM

Our operations division needs to multitask and give out details on pending order statuses and delivery dates, and are always working under pressure. I feel that they should move activity onto cloud, as cloud is great at helping with these issues.”CIO, UK

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Clouds and clients Adopting cloud has a significant impact on a firm’s dealings with external business partners and customers. Nearly one-third (31%) of respondents say that their use of cloud has affected these relationships, with nearly all in this sub-set describing the effect as positive.

Respondents point to a number of ways in which cloud helps to build customer and partner satisfaction. Improved communications and real-time information sharing is one of them. “Cloud has made us good at building relationships and it has proved itself by diminishing barriers between clients and suppliers,” says a UK-based IT director. Another stresses the fact that cloud tools make it easier for customers to voice their opinions, helping the business to become more responsive in the process.

Some firms point to cloud-driven improvements in service delivery and supply chain optimisation as important tools to build trust and assist in customer retention. One firm emphasised the way in which offshoring, made possible by cloud, allowed it not only to expand the workforce quickly when the need arose, but also to share best practice with remote staff to get the job done faster.

Better security also builds customer confidence. “Improved data security has helped us to gain external partners’ confidence,” says the technology director of a German company. The enhanced resilience offered by cloud is equally attractive, making firms less likely to succumb to IT disruption. A CIO elaborates: “Information retrieval is easy. This helps when a business is going through a crisis with traditional systems.”

69%

31%

Has your firm's use of cloud impacted its dealings with external business partners?

No

Yes

The need for around-the-clock customer service and support has gained momentum in the last few years. Cloud can help provide solutions to customers anywhere in the world as information is accessible through many applications.”CTO, UK

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A number of respondents say that cloud is helping them to enhance their reputations and maintain good relationships with partners. “Cloud has added that extra thing that makes relationships easy to maintain and grow,” observes the CTO of a German business.

Pleasant surprisesCloud can also yield some unexpected benefits – easier M&A deals are a case in point. “We recently initiated M&A activities overseas and have noticed that cloud computing delivers great integration benefits,” says one UK IT director. “Two can become one much faster and more efficiently.”

The cost and complexity of technology integration has long been a hindrance in the M&A sphere. Firms that have customer data that is portable, well-organised and unencumbered are potentially valuable targets. However, while cloud might make M&A easier, it is possible that firms fearing a hostile takeover could

deliberately avoid implementing cloud as a defensive tactic.

There is a strong suggestion that the majority of organisations are not yet exploring the transformational potential of cloud. More than two-thirds of firms (69%) indicate that cloud has no impact on dealings with external partners. This, coupled with the extremely low incidence of negative observations, suggests that businesses are simply replicating their existing services on the cloud and are adopting a wait-and-see stance as far as innovation is concerned. “We are yet to research and find out how cloud helps in building relationships and acquiring business,” says one France-based director of information services.

Head in the cloudsCloud has the power to touch just about every area of a business, and this means that effective leadership is paramount. Yet, determining who

While some repondents say cloud is helping to enhance reputation and client relationships, 69% indicated that implementation has had no effect on dealings with external partners. This suggests firms are not exploring cloud’s transformational potential.

Cloud has helped us to deliver projects on time, and has been a reliable technology model in improving our dealings with our external partners.”CIO, UK

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should lead, and what form that leadership should take, is seldom straightforward.

Decentralised approaches to implementation, without clear leadership, present a number of problems. In many companies, cloud exists in a strategic vacuum: with no company-wide coordination, organisations run the risk of replicating their existing IT problems on the cloud. Difficulties can arise around effort duplication, cost inefficiency and poor information sharing across departments.

These problems are exacerbated by the ease with which departments can set up their own cloud-based ‘point solutions’ – single applications designed to meet a narrow business need. The risk with cloud is that such solutions can be procured without the oversight, or even knowledge, of the IT department.

When it comes to managing the cloud, respondents indicated a broad spread of responsibility for decision making. In most cases (49%) it is the CIO/CTO (or equivalent) who takes the lead, while the CEO is the main decision maker in 33% of firms. Collective approaches to overall decision making tend to

Cloud implementation has the potential to touch almost every aspect of a business. This makes the question of leadership an important one – but it is an issue that is seldom straightforward. Of those surveyed, 49% named the CIO/CTO (or equivalent) as the firm’s key decision maker around cloud, followed by the CEO (33%), executive board (13%) and IT department (5%).

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be less popular: 13% of companies rely on the executive board, while just 5% look to the IT department to provide a steer.

Putting a leader squarely at the head of implementation can eliminate some, if not all, of the problems outlined earlier.

Cloud planningNo matter who leads on cloud, company-wide cloud initiatives are liable to run into difficulties unless they are strategically aligned with business objectives.

To get the most out of cloud, organisations need to develop a clearly defined roadmap. This should lay out not only the vision for where the business wants to go with cloud, but also who will make it happen, when, and how.

That means gathering and assessing requirements from different business lines, defining budgets and evaluating cloud service providers. Broad consultation within the business is essential. The cloud has strategic as well as operational implications, and internal audit, legal and tax departments should also be brought into the fold.

Oversight of cloud implementation is critically important. For many firms, an urgent audit of the existing cloud estate is a good start. According to some estimates, more than one-third of all SaaS cloud applications used in organisations are purchased and used without oversight. Organisations need to deal with the complexity of existing shadow IT estate before embarking on wider cloud initiatives.

33.3%Estimated number of companies that purchase SaaS and use it without oversight.

We have adopted cloud in our firm and have secured a budget based on cloud that offers security, disaster recovery and business continuity services. I would say the first step is to allocate a budget, then find the right vendor and share our requirements, request a quote and, once approvals are received, train employees.”CIO, UK

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Climbing into the cloudFrom cost efficiency to time saving, the advantages of cloud computing are clear. But hurdles still exist and companies need to take careful steps when implementing the cloud

The top three steps to cloud implementationWhen it comes to rolling out the cloud, budget allocation and the right network are key factors

18%Obtaining managers’ buy-in

for adoption21%

Allocating additional IT budget

19%Determining type of network

(public/private/hybrid)

18

Cloud spendingAllocating budget to the cloud is no easy task, and firms are taking the issue seriously

Outside assistanceThe vast majority of respondents look for assistance with the cloud from outside the organisation

73%of firms plan to spend between 11% and 25% or more of their overall IT spending on cloud

62%of respondents look to consultants for assistance with best practice

Insights

1The most important steps to cloud implementation are allocating IT budget,

determining the type of network, and obtaining management buy-in for adoption.

2 Only 6% of respondents are concerned with security and privacy in relation

to cloud, potentially underestimating this challenge.

3 Determining how much to spend on the cloud is a taxing issue. However, many

survey respondents note that higher spending makes sense due to subsequent efficiencies and cost benefits.

UK

France

Germany

4% 4%

10%

Percentage of respondents concerned about security and privacy in relation to the cloud

Security concerns by countryFrance has the highest level of concern over security and privacy in the cloud, but all countries seem to underestimate the risks

Security concernAre companies seriously underestimating the security and privacy risk from the cloud?

Only 6%of respondents are

concerned about privacy and security in relation

to the cloud

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Despite the cloud’s benefits and many respondents’ assurances that they have adopted best practice, stumbling blocks to implementation remain. These range from budgetary constraints to worries about privacy and security. Organisations also need to be careful not to overlook aspects that may initially appear straightforward. Internet connectivity, for example, is fundamental to cloud delivery. The speed, reliability and security of networks are therefore of critical importance.

Secure in the cloud? Security is a major issue that respondents may be underestimating: just 6% of those surveyed say they are concerned about privacy and security in relation to the cloud. Given that our survey pool consisted of those in charge of information and technology in their businesses, response bias may

Clearing the fogWhat challenges does the cloud present and how are companies overcoming them?

21% 24%

20%

20% 20%

22%

18%

18% 18%

14%

14% 13%

13% 12%

12%

10%

10%

10%

1% 2%

0% 0%

6%

6% 6%

7%

19% 16%

16%

16%

8%

9%


Please rank the most important step in adopting cloud for your firm


0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Training employees

Defining goals ahead of implementation

Finding the right cloud vendor

Integrating pre-existing IT systems with cloud

Identifying external IT consultants

Obtaining business managers’ buy-in for adoption

Determining the type of network (public/private/community/hybrid)

Allocating additional IT budget

be at play. However, this could also be indicative of complacency around security issues.

There is some national variation here, with 10% of French respondents indicating concern, versus only 4% of both German and UK-based interviewees. It may be that many respondents simply have not thought enough about security issues. But several of those who expressed concern still had gone to great lengths to ensure their systems were secure.

“We are concerned because of the involvement of a third party,” says one UK-based director of IT. “But with the standards we follow and the standards our cloud service provider follows, we are also confident of data security.”

Those respondents concerned about privacy and security identify several different ways to

Using a cloud network means that a third party has access to sensitive information. But considering the security measures in place, we can be relaxed.” Director of information technology, Germany

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address security issues. These methods include using security advisers, changing control systems and using restricted access methods for security purposes.

Managing riskInformation security is the cornerstone of any data-driven organisation. While the standard of security offered by large cloud service providers is high, firms cannot afford to be complacent.

Providers’ data security policies demand particular attention. Transferring data to the cloud means that safekeeping is entrusted to a third party. And, unlike in-house IT, cloud users have only a limited ability to probe their providers’ security controls.

Data loss is another area of cloud risk which requires careful scrutiny. Like any other physical assets, servers can crash and data centres can suffer floods, fires and power cuts. Robust back-up and disaster recovery procedures are vital. A tightly worded contract might help secure damages, but it won’t get your data – or your customers – back should disaster strike.

Then there’s the question of unauthorised access to cloud data. How are users authenticated? If data is encrypted, how strong is the encryption? Cloud access is always dependent on a network, usually a public network, and is therefore vulnerable.

Any compromise in security can make systems susceptible to cyber criminals, who are already making use of the cloud to make themselves harder to detect. Following data onto the cloud, cyber criminals cost the global economy up to US$500bn annually, according to research by security firm McAfee and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. And in early June 2014, the US government indicted Russian hacker Evgeniy Bogachev for cyber crimes such as conspiracy, wire, bank and computer fraud, involving more than one million computers. With threats of such virulent attacks, security in the cloud has never been more pertinent.

30%Percentage of respondents who name sales and CRM as the most important business area for cloud implementation.

Based on security concerns, we have moved to a VPN network which ensures that the connection from the off-site worker’s desktop to the cloud network is safe from data capture.” Director of information technology, UK

21

Good housekeepingThe workforce itself can create its own cloud-related problems, often without realising. The risk here comes from off-the-shelf applications such as web-based email and file hosting services. This ‘shadow IT’ estate presents risks because it exists under the radar of external corporate supervision.

Placing data and applications in the hands of a third party presents a range of additional risks that are sometimes overlooked and should be planned for.

Legal and regulatory compliance is one of them. Outsourcing the storage and processing of information does not remove the obligation on companies to safeguard personal data. Equally, blaming a cloud service provider in the event of a data breach is unlikely to limit reputational damage.

In tandem with this, organisations need to know where their cloud provider is storing their data. Rules governing the movement of data across borders vary significantly between countries. Organisations can limit this risk by choosing domestically based providers.

Security risks: Are you concerned by the underestimation of security by respondents? What has led to this attitude?

Alan Hartwell, Vice President Security and Identity Solutions, EMEA at Oracle The key element holding organisations back from significant cloud adoption is the lack of awareness of cloud security solutions; some are secure and some are not. In that respect, it’s interesting that our study shows that over half of the respondents have not even considered security in a cloud context. Mass uptake will not accelerate until cloud security solutions are better understood.

Security, privacy, and risk need not be a roadblock to cloud adoption. With the right considerations, executives can make informed decisions about how to accept and manage risk appropriately.

Adopting cloud computing is not about delegating responsibilities to a cloud provider. Rather, it is about incorporating these platforms, and their potential benefits, into a broad strategy.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has said that keeping data private is “not a technology issue at all.” The main question executives should ask when contemplating a cloud solution is that of maturity. Cloud solutions should have a clearly articulated and well-established security, privacy, and risk management programme.

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What is your current anticipated spending on cloud as a proportion of overall IT spending?

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Overall

UK

Germany

France

6%10%52%24%8%

2%28%56%14%

4%28%34%28%6%

4%22%47%22%5%


11-15%6-10%5% or less 20-25%16-20%

Tax obligations also require careful attention. For example, shifting from a capital expenditure cost model to an operational cost model can have tax consequences for companies using a cloud service provider. The borderless nature of cloud operations adds further complexity, with tax obligations and reporting requirements varying between markets. Taxation around cloud remains in a state of flux.

Organisations need to be clear about cloud portability and lock-in clauses. How easy is it to move your data and applications to another cloud provider if service is poor and the cost too great? What if your cloud provider folds?

While many companies will wish to build a relationship with their cloud providers based on trust – a word frequently used by survey respondents – the value of being able to migrate easily should never be underestimated.

Budget constraintsAccording to the largest share of respondents (21%), the most important step in implementing cloud is allocating additional IT budget. This step underscores the challenge of finding extra finances to get cloud off the ground.

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69%

Is your firm concerned about interactions between cloud-based systems and legacy systems?

84%No

16%Yes

In terms of what respondents are allocating, the highest percentage (47%) currently spends between 11% and 15% of their IT budget on cloud. A further 22% spend between 16% and 20%. Here, Germany-based respondents have most clearly prioritised cloud, with 86% spending more than 10% of their annual IT budgets on cloud. This compares to 68% of French respondents and 66% of interviewees from the UK.

Determining exactly how much corporate spending should be devoted to cloud – and, more pertinently, what cloud capabilities it should focus on – is an issue which is taxing many companies.

Across all three countries, many of those surveyed noted that higher spending made sense due to efficiency and cost benefits. For instance, one CTO from the UK says: “I anticipate spending 25% of the IT budget, considering how cloud

can help us to provide a 24/ 7 service without the physical presence of any employee.”

However, there is a big difference between using cloud to provide an entirely new service, and using it to replace an existing one. In some cases, firms are using cloud to run applications and services that were never in the IT domain in the first place. For these firms, cloud represents completely new IT spend.

To date, the emphasis has been on using cloud for applications that support sales/CRM, communications and collaboration. However, storage and data-heavy applications are now rapidly emerging as attractive targets for cloud initiatives. Big data is a big driver for this.

Cloud is increasingly seen as a natural environment for big data analytics because

We have seen a considerable change in IT efficiency since we implemented cloud ... making the work environment more positive. I feel we will grow our cloud network and around 20% of the budget would be assigned to cloud.”CTO, Germany

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it offers low-cost, scalable storage and can provide the flexible computing power, and software, needed to obtain insights.

Coordinating cloudFew businesses migrate everything to the cloud in one go. Most firms take a more piecemeal approach, by moving one or two applications and services over to the cloud. Additional services, functionality and data are then migrated to cloud over time.

Phased migration can ease the transition to cloud, but it raises the spectre of ‘cloud silos’, with data and applications finding their way onto different clouds. This is particularly a problem when individual departments and business lines implement cloud initiatives unilaterally. Organisations then have to manage a mix of both in-house and cloud-based solutions.

Although managing interactions between cloud and legacy systems is a recognised challenge, only 16% of respondents say they are concerned, with some respondents noting that integration problems were resolved at the design stage. “Our cloud-based systems are designed to match the capabilities of the internal server and they

coordinate very well with the integrated ones,” says the CTO of a German firm.

Interactive ITSome businesses go to considerable lengths to evaluate potential interactions between their existing IT and cloud before committing to a solution.

“Integration in regards to both systems is complex and not like the standard procedures,” notes a Germany-based technology director. “Information goes from place to place and network to network, which could be challenging. Whatever tasks are completed through the cloud are also saved in the company server and this is going to be a practice for the next few months as we are going to test both systems and then finally decide on our next step.”

Organisations that expressed concern pointed to issues such as availability, outages, server maintenance downtime and data protection.

Communicating changeAs well as technical challenges, interactions between old and new have major implications for the workforce in terms of training and working

Only 16% of respondents cited concern with managing interactions between cloud and legacy systems. Many say they tackled this challenge at the design stage, with availability, outages, server maintenance downtime and data protection being the primary concerns.

We considered the future of relevant legacy systems during the entire lifecycle of procuring and implementing our cloud solution.”Director of IT, France

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practices. The cross-cutting nature of cloud initiatives means organisations need to ensure all stakeholders are engaged from the start. Keeping staff and management informed of changes is vital.

“Some of the characteristics of cloud computing may introduce new benefits and operational changes that should be communicated to set proper user expectations,” says one IT director. “We organised an effective change management plan involving every department and external advisers.”

Some firms also express concerns about function or data overlap between departments. As with the legacy and cloud interaction question outlined above, levels of concern are relatively low, at 18%.

One of the key issues with overlap is managing access to information. The ability to maintain compartmentalisation of data – particularly restriction of access to sensitive financial data – is vital.

Firewalls and functional divisions with separate clouds can help. “Different clouds are set up for

Is your firm concerned about overlapping functions and/or data among departments?

82%No

18%Yes

different departments, which restricts access for some users at appropriate times,” explains one UK-based CIO. “For example, the customer relations team and sales team will not have accurate figures of profits made as they will not have access to the private cloud of the finance and accounting team.”

This position was echoed by a number of respondents. “Our business functions around confidentiality and security and we do not like to get into tough situations based on data spread among different departments,” says a German CTO. “We have different departments functional on different clouds now, which has reduced information sharing as there is a firewall which does not allow unauthorised access.”

The balance between sharing and restricting access is a fine one and the extent to which functions will need to be segregated will vary from business to business. Not all firms see it as necessary to impose strict functional separation. “Data is not a concern within our organisation,” says one IT director. “Our business expects continuous coordination as all the work is interrelated and information needs to be passed on and updated regularly on the common drive for all to read and understand.”

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Cloud counselIdentifying cloud best practice is no easy task. The situation is complicated by the speed of cloud service evolution and by the current lack of common standards for cloud management. This is compounded by the fact that many of the frameworks for auditing security measures are based on point-in-time assessments and therefore not well suited to cloud services that change continually.

What’s clear is that managing the complexity and risk that goes with cloud is now beyond the capabilities of most organisations to handle alone.

A large proportion of survey participants (more than 80%) refer to assistance from outside their organisations. Sources of external guidance include consultants, conferences, cloud providers themselves and technical reports. However, firms are not

spreading the net widely: only a handful of respondents mentioned using more than one external source.

Consultants are by far the most popular source of advice. Sixty-two percent of the businesses that seek external assistance on best practice use the services of a consultant, or would do so if required. The following response sums up a widely held view: “Our firm depends on consultants to determine best practices for cloud,” says an IT director in France, “as consultants have the best knowledge of the industry and continuously work towards cloud improvement.”

Conferences are also used as a way of keeping abreast of best practice. A number of respondents attend conferences and industry events in the search for insights. And insights are not the only attraction: one CIO noted that conferences are a good place to find

62%Percentage of respondents who look to consultants for assistance on best practice.

out what the experts are saying about cloud providers “so that it becomes easier to switch in future if necessary.”

Cloud providers themselves are also seen as a reliable source of best practice information: a sizeable minority of firms seek external advice or make use of insights from providers. Technical reports and news are also used to glean information, but only a few respondents say they use them.

While respondents are clearly going to significant lengths to get the best advice and stay informed, the lack of standardised best practice and guidance is clearly a matter of concern and one which the industry is only just starting to address.

We have set up a firewall on all clouds so that no one gets unauthorised access to information which is not to be shared openly.” CIO, France

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Cloud choiceFirms are implementing different cloud infrastructures across their business in terms of software and the types of cloud they are using

Cloud formationsCompanies are taking a plural approach to the types of clouds they use

97% use public cloud

61% use private cloud

Public cloud Private cloud Hybrid cloud

Resources are offered by a service provider over the internet

Easy to set up, competitively priced

Not as bespoke as private or hybrid cloud

Resources are dedicated to a single customer

Easier to maintain oversight and retain control of security

Higher costs than public or hybrid cloud

Brings together both public and internally-provided cloud services

Best of both worlds

More costly than public cloud

57% use hybrid cloud

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Insights

1Each cloud model has advantages and disadvantages. For example, public cloud

is competitively priced but is not tailor-made while the opposite is true for private cloud.

2 Hybrid cloud may provide businesses with the best of both worlds.

3 SaaS is valued for its speed and cost-effectiveness .

SaaS: A distribution model in which applications are hosted by service provider and licensed to customers over a network

76%use SaaS

Call in the SaaSSaaS is key to the cloud – and businesses are responding to it

Which departments are implementing SaaS?Sales and marketing top the chart for business areas that most utilise SaaS – by some distance

44%Sales/CRM

18% Marketing

11%Research/Operations

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A unique cloud model for every businessWhat considerations need to be made when tailoring your business-specific cloud solution?

Firms are creating cloud systems that are as individual as their own businesses. This theme emerges throughout the study. More than three-quarters of respondents (77%) say that their firms have implemented cloud infrastructure differently across different departments. As a France-based technology director says, this is “because different teams perform different duties on a daily basis. These teams need to have access to individual information and their work is often not connected to that of other teams.”

Implementation varies significantly across all three nations surveyed. At 96%, nearly all Germany-based respondents say that their firms implement cloud differently across different departments. This compares with 68% of those interviewed from both the UK and France. Again, this is likely to be tied to cloud adoption, with most German respondents having already implemented cloud. Maturity in all markets is likely to be marked by increasingly plural approaches.

Software on demandSaaS is one of the cornerstones of cloud and more than three-quarters (76%) of survey respondents say they use it.

UK

France

Germany

Has your firm implemented cloud infrastructure differently across different departments?

Yes

Yes

Yes68%

68%

96%

OVERALL


77%

Our firm’s business demands service at all times and SaaS has made it possible for us. SaaS helps in monitoring activity and engagement and provides results based on the user experience which helped us to improve in many aspects we had not thought of.”CIO, Germany

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Does your firm use SaaS?

76%Yes

24%No

[IF YES]: In which department have you implemented SaaS specifically? (Please select the most important)


44%

18% 14%

14%

13%

13%

7%

21% 16%

11%

11%

11% 15%

6%

6%

6%

6% 6%

4%

4%

4% 3%

3%

10%

0%

47% 36%

52%


0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Product development

Human resources

Finance/accounting

Research

Operations/logistics

Marketing

Sales/CRM

SaaS is about hiring software rather than just buying it. Typically, software and applications are accessed using a web browser or mobile app and hosted remotely by the service provider. Common applications include CRM and enterprise resource planning applications, although just about any application can be delivered on an ‘as-a-service’ basis.

The SaaS model offers significant benefits, as it eliminates the costs associated with purchasing and installing software. It also reduces the hassle and disruption of software upgrades and patch management – the vendor takes care of this. In addition, SaaS means organisations can be confident that everyone is working from the same version of the software.

SaaS can also enhance flexibility. Users can be added and removed easily, with firms only paying for what they use: pay-per-use means that organisations are not burdened with the high costs of owning seldom-used software. It also means firms can experiment with applications they would not otherwise be able to afford.

Equally importantly, the SaaS model allows users to work from anywhere using mobile

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devices such as tablets and smartphones. As the workforce becomes more mobile, the ability to access corporate applications on the move is increasingly valuable.

The survey shows that sales or CRM is by far the most popular target for SaaS initiatives, with 44% of firms identifying this as their ‘most important’ implementation – more than twice the number for marketing (18%). Key factors include the ability to get closer to customers, improved responsiveness and 24/7 availability.

Nearly half of all of respondents (45%) say that SaaS makes up 30-49% of their software estate, with the remainder company-owned. Here, there are some national variations. A large majority of Germany-based respondents (88%) have software estates comprising more than 30% SaaS. This compares with 50% of French respondents and 54% of UK-based respondents.

The benefits of SaaS in CRM are clear from respondents’ comments. For instance, a UK-based CIO says: “SaaS has helped our business increase customer satisfaction, because we can modify our product based on the customer’s requirement. This can happen instantaneously,

Sales and CRM are the most popular target for SaaS initiatives, with 44% of firms citing this as their ‘most important’ implementation. Benefits include the ability to get closer to customers, improved responsiveness and 24/7 availability.

SaaS is used for activities which need to be up and running around-the-clock, mainly for our customers who try to find more information about a few aspects of our business. SaaS is particularly important because most of our company-owned IT equipment is often off during non-working hours.”CIO, Germany

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What percentage of your cloud capabilities are public?

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Overall

UK

Germany

France

40-59%

20-39% 100%

1-19%

0%

80-99%

60-79%

10%

14%

10%

11%

4%

3%3% 32%26% 25%

40%26%18%

4%28%26%24%4%

28%36% 22%

2%2%

2%


as real-time reports are available through SaaS. Customer engagement and activity is measurable, giving us the power to improve our customer experience.”

This point is echoed by an IT head who says that SaaS “helps us to determine why a customer would require more attention.” Respondents also highlighted low latency (data transfer time from one point to another) and faster insights as a key sales lever. SaaS “enables us to track and identify factors that need attention and improvement, which would result in up sells and more revenue generation,” notes one UK CIO.

The speed and cost-effectiveness of SaaS deployments is particularly valued by respondents. “SaaS has allowed us to scale as fast and as much as needed without replacing costly infrastructure or adding IT staff,” notes the IT director of a German firm. “In addition, the subscription-based SaaS pricing model can keep IT budget costs consistent for sales and CRM .”

The ability to support 24/7 operations anywhere is also prized by businesses, particularly for firms with a global reach. “Our business prefers SaaS for the delivery of information around the world

at any time,” says the IT director of a French company. “We have customers from different time zones and we cater to their needs through SaaS to prove our promptness and efficiency.”

Public, private or hybrid?The plural approach adopted by businesses extends beyond software into the types of clouds they are using. Organisations participating in the survey use a mix of public, private and hybrid cloud services.

Public cloud is the most widely-used model, with 97% of firms using it in some capacity. By contrast, 61% use private clouds and 57% hybrid.

A public cloud is one in which computer resources, such as applications and infrastructure, are offered by a cloud service provider over the internet. No special business software is needed on the user’s computer (or mobile device). Only a web browser or mobile app is required. As the name suggests, public cloud services are open to everyone, from individuals through to multinational corporations.

Public cloud services are extremely popular. They are easy to set up and – because computing resources are shared with multiple tenants – services are competitively priced. They may be

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offered free, or on a paid-for basis. Well-known examples include Gmail, Amazon EC2 and Microsoft Office 365.

While the survey reveals that public cloud services are widely used, they are seldom relied on in isolation: just 11% of respondents use public cloud exclusively, with only modest variations across the three participating nations.

Going privatePrivate cloud computing approaches are much less extensively used by survey participants.

A private cloud is one in which resources, such as software and storage, are dedicated to a single customer. A private cloud may be hosted in an organisation’s own data centre (‘on premises’) or hosted off-site by a third-party provider (‘off premises’). In the case of ‘off premises’ private cloud services, resources are

dedicated to individual customers – they are not shared with others.

The private cloud model is operationally attractive because it makes it easier for businesses to maintain oversight of the infrastructure and to retain control over information security – a point that can be of particular importance as far as compliance is concerned. However, the higher costs associated with private cloud could explain its relatively modest uptake, with just over 60% of respondents saying they use it.

The best of both worldsHybrid cloud is an equally important part of the equation. This is a cloud which brings together both public and internally-provided cloud services. Hybrid cloud reflects the complexity of the real world and underlines the fact that, in many cases, firms will not be able to get everything they need from a single provider or by using a single model.

What percentage of your cloud capabilities are private?

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Overall

UK

Germany

France

40-59%

20-39% 100%

1-19%

0%

80-99%

60-79%

12%

8%

2%

7%

18%

19%40% 29%6%

28%8%

2%

44%

20%34%36%

20%38% 6% 24%

Percentage of respondentsPrivate cloud is beneficial to businesses on a case by case basis. Its secure and robust compatibility feature is very good, but the cost and maintenance can be a challenge.”CIO, France

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What percentage of your cloud capabilities are hybrid?

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Overall

UK

Germany

France

40-59%

20-39% 100%

1-19%

0%

80-99%

60-79%

14%

4%4%6%

1%

14%

11%16%43% 25%4%

20%20%46%

36%6%44%

22%40% 4% 20%


A hybrid approach allows organisations to get the most out of both internal and external resources. Hybrid cloud is used by 57% of respondents, less than both private and public clouds.

Pick and chooseThe cloud model that organisations choose will depend on usage requirements. For customer-facing applications, public cloud is a clear favourite. The ability to track what customers are doing, and to get closer to them, faster, is a key factor.

“We need public clouds to check on our customer movements and to focus on their needs,” says a UK-based technology director. Ease of interaction is also a driver. “Regular polls and interactions are the foundation of our business and its success,” emphasises another IT leader. “We need to be active on the public cloud to favour our customers’ demands.”

Respondents had similarly clear-cut views about how and where they make use of private clouds. Not surprisingly, the enhanced security offered by private clouds is highly valued. “Our private network is essential to keep the data held by the

97%Percentage of respondents who use public cloud in some capacity – by far the most used of the cloud computing service options.

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Cloud Options: What considerations need to be made when advising a company in cloud adoption and modification?

By Paul McCartan, Vice President Sales Development at Oracle Western Europe

Despite the surprising lack of concern shown by respondents in the survey (only 6% said security was a major challenge), security is still one of the major talking points for companies adopting the cloud. While the survey appears to reveal a worrying complacency, businesses still want to be assured that their valuable information will be safe in the cloud – particularly with new EU legislation geared at protecting personal data coming into effect in 2015.

Yet, with the top cloud providers in the world investing millions in the latest security innovations, companies need to look more closely at the data in their own data centres, where a great deal of breaches actually happen. Companies can make significant improvements to their IT security by taking measures to protect their own data centre defences.

finance and HR teams secure,” notes one CIO. “We are using the private network only towards securing confidential information in regards to financial turnover and business partners,” says another. Respondents also report using private clouds to reduce the risk of unauthorised access to sensitive research and strategic planning data.

Additional benefitsWhile security is the main driver, respondents identified a number of additional properties that make private cloud a good business choice for them – and sometimes the only choice.

“In certain countries, the data centre hosting a public cloud service must reside within the local country where its users reside as well,” explains a German IT director. “So when there is no public cloud option that can be provided from the local country, a private cloud is the only option that can be used.”

As well as helping businesses to remain compliant, private cloud solutions are attractive because they can be tailored to an extent that is not always possible with public cloud services.

“Private cloud platforms grow with our business, and these platforms tend to be more customisable than many public cloud offerings,” notes the CTO of a French firm. Resilience, control and service continuity are also key factors: “We can design our own environments with all of the redundancy we require,” observes a UK IT director. This point is reiterated by a German CTO: “With the levels of redundancy built into an enterprise private cloud service, there is a minute chance of an outage ever occurring.”

As noted earlier, the costs associated with private cloud are generally higher than those for public offerings – a point identified by a number of respondents. However, the higher costs may be justified on the grounds that the private cloud model improves resource allocation and helps organisations to align supply with demand more effectively.

“Although private clouds are not as cost effective as a public cloud service due to smaller economies of scale and increased management costs, they do make more efficient use of the computing resource than traditional networks as they minimise the investment in unused capacity,” notes one IT director.

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Some warning bells were sounded, however. Organisations need to retain – and enhance – security and maintenance operations if they are to get the most out of private clouds. Storage issues also have to be taken into account. “You have more control over the data,” notes one CIO. “But there are data limitations and you could run out of space if there are huge files being saved on a daily basis.”

Low use, high benefitsHybrid clouds are seen by respondents as representing the best of both worlds, although like private cloud, they tend to be used less widely. “The hybrid network is reliable as it has fewer risks and is more secure and cost effective,” says a German CIO. “Based on the suggestions given by our cloud provider, we decided to move most business functions to the hybrid network and keep other cloud usage minimised.”

The lower cost of hybrid solutions was also seen as an attraction by survey respondents. “As the hybrid network is cheaper than the private cloud and has similar advantages, we have reduced our usage of private cloud and have started using the hybrid network more,” says the head of IT at a German company.

Customer relations, sales, marketing, product development and research are among the departments whose needs are being met through the hybrid cloud. “The customer and sales team can be put on a hybrid public cloud network so that they can maintain continuity in customer issues, problem solving along with the customers and the internal team,” notes a UK-based IT director.

The varied responses gathered from participants indicate that organisations are already taking sophisticated and highly tailored approaches to cloud adoption, with different clouds aligned to different business and security needs. Perhaps more importantly, a number of respondents indicated that they had moved functionality between clouds. Portability between clouds is likely to become increasingly important as firms seek to build a competitive advantage by shopping around and offering new services.

We implemented different cloud networks where some of them are committed to certain functions and some of them are either private or public. For example, we moved our financial planning information and investment details to a secure private cloud as our firm is looking at long-term expansion and would be investing in the global market, so we would not want that information to be leaked or missed.”Senior vice president of technology, Germany

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Conclusion: on cloud nineCloud implementation presents a range of opportunities and challenges, which corporates across Germany, France and the UK are realising to differing degrees. Our research reveals that businesses implementing cloud successfully do so by figuring out what specifically works for them. Planning ahead and seeking the right advice can help businesses identify areas of weakness, and how to overcome them.

3 Get ready for business at the speed of cloud. Cloud has the capacity to deliver more than just

cost savings. In sales/CRM, for example, SaaS is helping organisations to achieve high-speed insights into customer behaviour. Cloud will bring sales departments closer to customers – but unless they take their order fulfilment teams and suppliers with them at the same speed, turning insights into sales could be more of a problem.

4 Big data is a big driver. From clickstreams to customer emails, social collaboration tools and

even call centre logs, every bit of data is a potential revenue enhancer. Managing high-volume, high-velocity data in-house is not an option for most organisations. Analytics – in the cloud – holds the key to building insights into customer behaviour and intentions.

1 Align cloud with your corporate strategy. Success with cloud requires executive sponsorship

and a clear roadmap. This should set out not only the vision for where the business wants to go with cloud, but also who will make it happen, when and how. Organisations that allow cloud to develop in a strategic vacuum encounter further problems in the future.

5 Choose cloud providers with care. Getting it right means asking tough questions of

providers. Can they demonstrate successful deployments similar to yours? How much contractual flexibility is there? What disaster recovery procedures and back-up plans do they have in place? Will they even still be in business in a year’s time? Can we move data and/or applications to a different provider easily if the need arises?

2 Tailor your cloud. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution with cloud. Businesses that succeed

with cloud are adept at aligning public, private and hybrid capabilities with defined enterprise objectives and security needs.

6 Data portability is key. Freedom to move your data and applications will help to

keep costs down – and help to keep your cloud provider on their toes. While many companies will naturally want to build a lasting relationship with their providers, the value of being able to migrate easily should not be underestimated. In the fast-moving world of cloud services, companies need to optimise speed.

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The Future of the CloudIan Tickle – VP EMEA, SaaS Solutions at Oracle Corporation

When it comes to the cloud, businesses are going to have one immediate responsibility – understanding which applications will increase productivity while making the business more efficient.

This will involve deploying cloud solutions that will add value to the whole organisation from marketing and sales to the supply chain and beyond.

At the same time, the chief information officer will continue to evolve into the chief innovation officer – a role that feeds directly into the business goals of the organisation.

The ‘new’ CIO will increasingly work much more closely with the CFO and the CEO to drive business growth through cloud applications and infrastructure. All three will become much more tech-savvy.

The future of the cloud also lies in greater openness as customers want more choice. This will drive the development of inter-operable cloud technologies that can be mixed at will. Businesses will use both public and private cloud services in tandem across a unified infrastructure.

Importantly, these services will be accessible via a range of devices, many of which will be employee-owned. These services will also be ‘socialised’, making them easy to use and helping to increase collaborative working.

7 Stay compliant. Outsourcing the storage and processing of information does not remove

the obligation on companies to protect personal data. And blaming a cloud service provider in the event of a data breach is unlikely to limit reputational damage. Organisations must also be clear about where their data is stored and understand the rules governing data flows across borders.

9 Cloud best practice is a moving target. Organisations could be forgiven for thinking

they are operating in an information vacuum: businesses struggle to get information about cloud best practice – and this applies every step of the way, from planning, through implementation and into operation. Getting the right external consultant can help you to bridge the knowledge gap and build a decisive advantage.

8 Start de-fragmenting your enterprise today. Shadow IT is now a major

issue for many organisations and threatens to undermine strategic implementations of cloud. Oversight is vital to combat cloud silos, and to discourage departments from going it alone.

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Glossary of terms[Definitions taken from the Gartner IT Glossary]

Big data: Data sets that are too large and complex to manipulate or interrogate with standard methods or tools.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): The ability to deliver an integrated suite of business applications. ERP tools share a common process and data model, covering broad and deep operational end-to-end processes, such as those found in finance, HR, distribution, manufacturing, service and the supply chain.

Firewall: A firewall is an application or an entire computer (e.g., an internet gateway server) that controls access to the network and monitors the flow of network traffic. A firewall can screen and keep out unwanted network traffic and ward off outside intrusion into a private network.

Legacy software: An information system that may be based on outdated technologies, but is critical to day-to-day operations.

software as a service (SaaS): A software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over a network, typically the internet.

Virtual Private Network (VPN): A system that delivers enterprise-focused communication services on a shared public network infrastructure and provides customised operating characteristics uniformly and universally across an enterprise.

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Oracle is shifting the complexity from IT, moving it out of the enterprise by engineering hardware

and software to work together—in the cloud and in the data centre. By eliminating complexity

and simplifying IT, Oracle enables its customers—400,000 of them in more than 145 countries

around the world—to accelerate innovation and create added value for their customers.

By engineering out the complexity that stifles business innovation, Oracle is engineering in

speed, reliability, security, and manageability. The result is best-in-class products throughout

an integrated stack of hardware and software, with every layer designed and engineered to

work together according to open industry standards. Oracle’s complete, open, and integrated

solutions offer extreme performance at the lowest cost—all from a single vendor. Integrated,

industry-specific solutions are engineered to address complex business processes across a

wide range of industries.

For customers needing modular solutions, Oracle’s open architecture and multiple

operating system options provide unmatched benefits from best-of-breed products in every

layer of the stack. This allows customers to build the most optimised infrastructure possible

for their enterprise.

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FT Remark produces bespoke research reports, surveying the thoughts and opinions of key audience segments and then using these to form the basis of multi-platform thought leadership campaigns. FT Remark research is carried out by Remark, part of the Mergermarket Group, and is distributed to the Financial Times audience via FT.com and FT Live events.

Disclaimer

This publication contains general information and is not intended to be comprehensive nor to provide professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, and it should not be acted on or relied upon or used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect you or your business. Before taking any such decision, you should consult a suitability qualified professional advisor. Whilst reasonable effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, this cannot be guaranteed and neither FT Remark nor any of its subsidiaries or any affiliate thereof or other related entity shall have any liability to any person or entity which relies on the information contained in this publication, including incidental or consequential damages arising from errors or omissions. Any such reliance is solely at the user’s risk.

RemarkResearch from the Financial Times Group

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The Silver Lining

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