Survey: Cloud still underutilized

Results of a new survey of senior IT professionals show that many organizations are not leveraging much of the cloud infrastructure they have put in place.

The survey, conducted by Osterman Research and cloud development company Electric Cloud, revealed that 52 percent of the companies that invested in either private or public cloud computing infrastructure rarely or never use the resources, while 47 percent report having excess capacity.

The lack of usage doesn’t appear to be for lack of intent, however. Nearly half (48 percent) of the organizations surveyed report that they plan to use private cloud computing services, while 34 percent are consider using the public cloud.

Clearly, the migration to the cloud is still in its infancy—the survey also indicates that 55 percent of the companies using public cloud and 39 percent of those using private cloud first turned to the technology in 2010. But that initial investment in and implementation of the infrastructure to support it is strong evidence of future expansion. The survey results also indicate a need for education of IT professionals as to how to more efficiently make the transition—another bright spot for cloud developers.