VMware and The Economist Release Report on Cloud Activation Outlook
In collaboration with the British weekly economic magazine The Economist, we present cloud adoption trends and future prospects.

VMware (CEO: Pat Gelsinger), a global leader in cloud infrastructure and business mobility solutions, has released a report titled “Ascending Cloud: The Adoption of Cloud Computing in Five Industries.”

This report, jointly released by VMware and The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), an economic analysis arm of The Economist, presents cloud adoption trends and future prospects across five industries: finance, retail, education, healthcare, and manufacturing. Seventy-two IT professionals or senior executives from each industry participated in the survey.



▲An average of 70% of respondents across industries predicted that the cloud will play a very important role within the next five years.

Across industries, an average of 70% of respondents predicted that the cloud will play a crucial role in the next five years. In particular, those in the financial sector predicted that the cloud will play a significant role in introducing new payment methods (68%) and reducing banking transaction costs (60%). In the retail sector, the cloud also played a significant role in reducing product costs (58%) and fostering new business (49%). In manufacturing, education, and healthcare, respondents said the cloud will transform manufacturing processes (60%), higher education (51%), and centralizing health records (57%).

The biggest benefit that companies get when adopting the cloud is cost savings.

Cost savings were identified as the greatest benefit businesses derive from adopting the cloud. While respondents expressed slightly different opinions across sectors in the survey, they primarily cited four benefits : ▲cost savings incurred during manufacturing or product sales; ▲creating or delivering products or services tailored to individual customer preferences; ▲enabling managers to operate flexible supply chains or inventory management; and ▲ expanding remote services to low-income individuals in education and healthcare .

Improving data security and securing specialized personnel emerged as challenges to be addressed when adopting the cloud. Respondents expressed concerns about cyberattacks via the cloud, particularly in traditional manufacturing industries, due to slow computing connections between devices. He also emphasized that skilled professionals are essential for robust cloud implementation and management.

Improving data security and securing cloud experts are key challenges ahead.

"Respondents unanimously expect the cloud to play a central role across all industries, with adoption accelerating significantly and positioning it as a key player within their businesses within the next five years," said West Coghlan, editor of The Economist. He added, "While addressing issues like data security and cyberattacks is crucial, we also need to consider how to secure cloud expertise in advance."

VMware supports the construction of data centers suited for cloud environments based on its Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) solution. Consequently, VMware is playing a leading role in the private cloud market. Recently, it has also introduced vCloud Air, a public cloud service, offering a hybrid cloud strategy that flexibly provides private and public cloud options to suit customer environments.

The report published by VMware and The Economist can be downloaded from the EIU's official website (http://bit.ly/1RIYVdr).