Cloud misconceptions: security tops the list

In a report commissioned by Appirio that looks at what early cloud adopters are experiencing, security came out top among respondents as a common misconception:

Given their experience, it’s not surprising that cloud adopters believe that some of the most commonfears about cloud solutions—security, ease of integration, customization, lock-in—are misconceptions. Infact, 28% of this group said that “security is an issue with the cloud” is the #1 misconception about cloud applications and platforms.

This is an important finding because it lends credence to the notion that once adopters have tasted what the cloud offers, then many of the issues raised by naysayers start to evaporate. There’s plenty of other good news in the report, including the finding that 67% find TCO somewhat or significantly better when compared to on-premise applications.

However it’s not all good news. During my discussion with Appirio I asked about the looming integration issue. This is something I touched upon earlier. As organizations become more comfortable with using cloud applications, integration – or as Gartner prefers to call it – interoperability becomes an important topic because businesses will use a variety of cloud services. Today, there is almost no real integration between services beyond single sign-on.

There will be many approaches to solving this problem. Appirio for instance is creating a cloud to cloud brokerage solution. It acknowledges the work needed is not trivial. We will discover in the coming months just how much of an issue integration/interoperability becomes.

In the meantime, I note that a group of large companies, estimated to spend more than $50 billion pa have joined together in seeking for the development of common standards among cloud vendors. What the big boys do today will surely be followed by the smaller vendors tomorrow.