70 per cent of SMBs say the cloud is important for their business growth

Over two thirds (70 per cent) of small and medium businesses in the UK have said that adoption of the cloud will be an important factor to contribute to the growth of their business in the next 12 months, according to a new survey from Fasthosts.

At Internet World 2013 last month, Fasthosts asked a sample of UK small businesses questions about their views and experiences of cloud adoption and the impact it has on its business operations. Of the 70 per cent, half of the respondents (35 per cent) said that the cloud is ‘extremely important’ to their business growth strategy.

“Many large enterprises have firmly established their cloud strategies but SMBs have up until now found the concept of cloud quite alien and therefore haven’t integrated it into business operations. The results of this survey demonstrate that SMBs are starting to think seriously about the cloud and that they are taking important steps to use it to their business advantage,” Simon Yeoman, General Manager, Fasthosts.

The survey also asked respondents which aspects of their business they thought the cloud would help them with most. The results revealed that 38 per cent of SMBs believe that the flexibility and scalability that the cloud can provide would be most beneficial. “For many SMBs, moving to the cloud is a big step but it is also a move that could be especially beneficial for this group. The scalability of the cloud is something that smaller businesses are beginning to recognise as a benefit and factors like cost reduction are very important for smaller businesses,” said Simon.

“In a lot of cases, a lack of education about the cloud is the barrier for small businesses that are considering making the jump. Helping educate the SMB sector is something we take very seriously and we are beginning to see a real move in the market as levels of understanding rise,” Simon concluded.