Businesses in India seen embracing 'hybrid cloud'

Even though the understanding of cloud (a metaphor for the internet) computing in the Asia-Pacific region is the highest among Indian businesses , most of these seem to be concerned about the data privacy issue.

In a recent survey by virtualisation platform provider VMware and Forrester Consulting, about 67 per cent of respondents said data privacy was a major hurdle to adopting cloud. However, Indian companies are seen adopting ‘hybrid cloud’ (a mix of private and public cloud) to address some of their concerns.

“The beauty of the hybrid cloud model is it can be tailored to suit business needs. Customers can hence define their own cloud," said T Srinivasan, managing director, India and Saarc, VMware.

The survey found the common fears among the businesses while adopting the cloud include those of vendor lock-in, loss of control over data and interoperability between different clouds.

The survey was carried out to understand the trends and cloud maturity adoption of cloud in the Asia-Pacific region. Around 6,141 decision-makers across the region participated in the survey.

A total of 91 per cent of participants from India said cloud computing was relevant to their businesses, followed by 90 per cent each in countries like Japan, China, Malaysia and Thailand.

“Our study indicates organisations in India perceive cloud as a change agent, rather than just an enabler. They are expanding, owing to growth in business and they need information technology to enable them to go to the market faster,” added Srinivasan.

Around 40 per cent of the enterprises surveyed in India use cloud computing, while 38 per cent of these said they would adopt the pay-as-use model within the next 6-18 months.

In addition, cloud computing was seen as a cost saver, with 58 per cent of organisations indicating cost savings as the primary driver for cloud adoption.