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24 | 8TH - 14TH JULY 2016 | UTILITY WEEK Sponsored report: Cloud adoption KEY FINDINGS: l 83 per cent of utilities report at least some use of cloud technology, but 17 per cent – almost one in five – report no use at all. l 38 per cent of utilities report that their cloud migra- tion is either already complete or will be complete over the next two years. But 26 per cent see a com- plete cloud migration being at least five years away, while 28 per cent report that cloud migration "will never be complete" in their organisations. l According to our respondents, this slow pace of adoption is often the result of the sheer complexity of the move, because of the sector's legacy systems and the need for appropriate due diligence, espe- cially in the context of the systems' impact on critical national infrastructure. l The key drivers for adoption are: cost pressure, the drive to improve a company's quality of service, and to reduce the company's infrastructure footprint through consolidation. l The key benefits of cloud technology are customer relationship management, billing, supplier relation- ship management and people management. l Respondents were generally clear about how cloud technology could benefit IT-specific and operational aspects of their businesses. There was less consen- sus on strategic and organisational issues. l The biggest risks associated with cloud technology were those related to the migration of safety-critical and mission-critical applications and data security. l With more than three-quarters of respondents who use cloud technology already managing two or more cloud providers, the difficulty in managing multiple suppliers was rated as moderate to high. l Respondents were concerned about the risks as- sociated with cloud technology, especially in areas such as data security and business continuity. But these concerns were highest in utilities with the least exposure to cloud technology. l Respondents rated the ease of building a clear return on investment and business case for cloud technol- ogy at just 5.5 out of 10. l Four out of five respondents felt that the regulatory regime had an impact on the adoption of cloud tech- nology. By a small margin, the majority felt that the regulatory regime was an inhibitor to the adoption of cloud technology. Insight cial services and the utility sector – clung to the mainframe long aer the rest of the corporate sector had switched to client- server, cloud computing too promises to her- ald a period of polarised attitudes. However, as the research highlights, his- tory is not repeating itself. To the surprise of some observers, the utility sector is embrac- ing the cloud, and placing mission-critical applications and core business processes in data centres run by third parties. As little as five years ago, that would have seemed remarkable. Mention the cloud, and a predictable litany of objections would have been raised, including loss of business continu- ity, security, loss of control, and so on. But one by one, these objections have been swept aside. Today, ana- lysts regularly affirm what was once unthinkable: compared with on- premise comput- ing, the cloud has higher uptime and better security and offers more control, not less. Yet the revolution is not complete. Yes, the utility sector is embracing cloud com- puting. But not universally, not at the same pace, not for the same set of imperatives – and not with the same shared sense of cloud technology's risks, rewards and return on investment. DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE ONE OR MULTIPLE CLOUD PROVIDERS? One Two Three+ 52% 22% 26% "Today, analysts regularly affirm what was once unthinkable: compared with on-premise computing, the cloud has higher uptime and better security and offers more control, not less"