Research reveals IT professionals’ growing confidence in public cloud despite security concerns

Research reveals IT professionals’ growing confidence in public cloud despite security concerns

Barracuda, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, has released key findings from a report titled, Cloud networks: Shifting into hyperdrive. Commissioned by Barracuda, the research surveyed global IT decision-makers to capture their attitudes and opinions about public cloud, access constraints, security concerns, emerging solutions and a variety of related topics. 

The survey, conducted by independent market researcher, Censuswide, includes responses from 800 executives, individual contributors and team managers with responsibility for their organisation’s cloud infrastructure. They came from organisations of all sizes in EMEA, APAC and the US, across a broad range of industries, including construction, education, finance, healthcare, technology, manufacturing, retail, transportation and others.

Overall, the findings indicate that although IT professionals are gaining confidence in the cloud, organisations face growing constraints when it comes to cloud access. Highlights from the report include: 

  • IT professionals are gaining confidence in the cloud
  • More than three-quarters of respondents use multiple cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform
  • Nearly 80% say their organisation has deployed an Azure-based network
  • Organisations face growing constraints when it comes to cloud access 
  • 56% of respondents are struggling to ensure seamless availability and ‘always-on’ access to cloud applications for their organisations  
  • Nearly 70% experience latency and performance issues running SaaS workloads, such as Office 365
  • Current network infrastructure is growing increasingly costly
  • More than 70% of respondents are using traditional access methods, such as MPLS, in their organisation’s network
  • More than 60% say their MPLS costs increase heavily due to seasonal workload peaks  
  • IT professionals are looking for easier and more economical connectivity
  • More than 70% of respondents have plans to implement an SD-WAN solution in the next 12 months to address cloud-connectivity issues 
  • At the same time, nearly 60% say their organisation is hesitant to adopt an SD-WAN solution because of fears that they are complex and expensive

“As organisations continue to radically transform their infrastructures and rely more on the public cloud, they are uncovering new connectivity and security challenges,” said Klaus Gheri, VP, Network Security, Barracuda. “But by embracing highly-flexible Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions, organisations of all sizes and types can improve connectivity, simplify management and strengthen security.”

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