79% of Australian SMEs say they haven’t embraced cloud computing: Survey

Australian SMEs remain sceptical about cloud computing services, with 79% of them claiming they don’t use cloud services, according to new research.

The survey of 1,000 SMEs, conducted by Colmar Brunton and commissioned by MYOB, also reveals a high degree of confusion about cloud computing, with 8% of businesses unsure of whether their businesses use cloud computing services, while only 14% say they use cloud computing in business.

Key reasons cited by businesses for not embracing the cloud include not knowing enough about the issue to make the right decision (27%), concerns about the safety of data stored overseas (26%), more urgent priorities (22%), unsure about the security of data on servers other than their own (21%), and not feeling “tech-savvy” enough to even look at the issue (17%).

Businesses were more likely to embrace cloud computing if their owners were in Generation Y (28%), had a website (23%), were a start-up (23%), provided professional or property services (22%), were in a major metropolitan area (21%), increased revenue in the past 12 months (20%) or were sole traders (15%).

At its broadest, cloud computing includes businesses relying on offsite websites or servers for services such as online banking, email services such as Gmail, website hosting including through websites such as WordPress.com, file storage or applications such as Google Apps.

“Despite the technology industry’s best efforts to teach others about the concept of cloud computing, our research shows a disconnect between SME cloud usage and their understanding of it. I question whether we need to rethink our educational direction when encouraging their move to the cloud,” says MYOB CEO Tim Rees.

“Four in five say they don’t use the cloud for business. This is surprising given the prolific use of internet banking and email, to give straightforward examples. Many more business operators leverage cloud technology than give themselves credit for, they just don’t realise.”

The news comes after Intel revealed that Google is now one of its largest customers for server processors, leading analysts to estimate the search and smartphone giant is now the world’s fifth largest server manufacturer.