SMBs not prepared for cloud adoption

Small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are not adequately preparing for cloud computing, according to research.

A report from Easynet Connect found that nearly half (47 per cent) of SMBs planned to begin using cloud technology within five years, but just ten per cent have considered internet connectivity issues in their roll-out strategy.

On top of this, only 12 per cent were going to increase their bandwidth to deal with potentially higher traffic, 13 per cent said they would look at ways to ensure their connection and just 9.2 per cent intended to strengthen their security measures.

"Once the majority of your mission-critical applications are hosted over the web, ensuring you have the most secure and available internet access possible becomes even more important," said Easynet Connect managing director Chris Stening.

"This should be prioritised just as highly as the staff training or cultural issues when formal switch over plans are developed."

The SMBs surveyed listed cost savings (35.2 per cent) and improved flexible and remote working opportunities (34 per cent) as some of the potential gains from using cloud computing.