The tide is turning when it comes to the driving force behind cloud computing adoption. For many years, IT departments were the ones pushing for greater use of the cloud, often to the reluctance of C-level executives. Over that time period, however, many mindsets and attitudes changed. Nowadays, the CEOs are actually the ones who are increasingly in favor of moving operations to the cloud, effectively going beyond initial concerns over what is cloud computing and embracing the transformative technology. This change is particularly encouraging for the cloud computing market, which is expected to reach an impressive $191 billion by the year 2020, a massive increase from the $58 billion market size of 2013. While the different attitudes from CEOs came about seemingly overnight, executives actually have some very good reasons for wanting the cloud to be a part of their organizations.
One reason for adopting the cloud that's been around a while is the cost savings it brings. Many IT departments had to explain the cost benefit of cloud computing just to get their executives to get on board with it. While costs are certainly an important factor today, it is not the only reason CEOs have become so enamored of the cloud. According to a recent cloud computing survey from KPMG, around 42 percent of respondents said the cloud helps their businesses better enable their mobile workforce. That represents an increase of triple the rate compared to what was recorded in the survey only a couple years ago. Workers are more frequently using mobile devices to do their jobs, especially through the acceptance of bring your own device (BYOD) policies, so adopting the cloud helps with this newfound mobile effectiveness.
This all plays into another benefit CEOs see the cloud delivering: improved productivity. The same survey shows 54 percent of executives want the cloud in order to increase employee productivity. Considering all of the different applications and programs now available to clients via the cloud, it's clear to see how it can help workers do their jobs more efficiently. The increased productivity factor can also be applied to the business as a whole. CEOs are always pushing for their companies to do more in a shorter timeframe. This can be done through more innovative technologies, which cloud computing is certainly an example of. By being able to increase productivity across the whole organization, cloud computing it proving to be a tool more CEOs want to utilize.
There are plenty of other factors influencing executives over their acceptance of the cloud. Cloud technology as a whole has matured over the years, becoming more stable and accessible to even those companies not familiar with the technology. In addition to that, cloud computing has become more mainstream, shifting away from more "techy" types of businesses to industries like finance, healthcare, and retail. The larger number of options also gives CEOs more choices in what cloud services they want. Another major factor is one that all executives are acutely aware of: the economy. A few years ago, the economy was struggling and businesses were taking a more conservative approach to their operations. Since then, while problems still remain, the economy has largely improved, meaning companies are more willing to take risks they normally wouldn't take. For those executives who have viewed the cloud as a risk, now is a much better time to try it out.
Executives also see the cloud as a better way to communicate, whether that be with suppliers, customers, or other businesses. Customers are more tech-savvy than ever before, which means companies need to respond accordingly if they want to attract new clients and keep them. This is one of the reasons the retail industry has embraced the cloud so readily. With added tools and capabilities, the cloud enables businesses to become more influential while sustaining or even adding to previous successes.
CEOs have woken up to the true value of the cloud, and the outlook only appears to be getting brighter. Some concerns still remain, particularly in the realm of cloud security and data privacy, but even that area doesn't strike fear into the hearts of executives like it once did. The cloud market is growing, and part of that success comes from addressing the very concerns corporate leaders have had since the beginning. As more problems are solved, CEOs will have no reason to avoid cloud computing any longer.