The Cloud Goes Mainstream: 73% of Canadian Organizations Have Moved to the Cloud

Maximizing cloud efficiency is the next frontier for Canadian IT departments

TORONTO, Nov. 14, 2017 /CNW/ - According to a study released today by Scalar Decisions Inc., Canada's leading information technology solutions provider, almost three quarters of Canadian organizations have migrated at least some of their IT delivery to the cloud. That's up from 59 percent in 2016. Scalar's second annual Cloud Study shows Canadian organizations have moved past security concerns as a barrier to adoption, and are now focused on maximizing the return on their investment in cloud delivery.

According to the study, highly publicized security breaches have not caused organizations to avoid adopting cloud-based delivery. While 35 percent of companies saw security as a factor in determining how much to use the cloud, 90 percent of respondents overcame those concerns to move forward with some level of cloud integration.

"The cloud has become not just a standard IT delivery model, but THE standard IT delivery model," says Rene Heroux, Chief Technology Officer, Scalar Decisions. "While organizations have ongoing concerns about security, they now see the cloud as a potential solution to those risks, not as a barrier to adopting the technology. Businesses are now looking to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of their cloud infrastructure by developing new software and processes."

The next frontier for cloud technology is moving from achieving basic benefits such as right-sizing, capital retention, and scalability to more advanced features like continuous integration, continuous development, and continuous deployment process automation. According to the results, companies are planning to boost their spending on cloud services to reap those efficiencies. Organizations plan to increase the share of their IT budget devoted to the cloud from less than 20 percent to almost 30 percent in the next 36 months.

"Major data and development intense companies have been using container technology for many years, but mainstream use of the technology is only starting to accelerate now," says Heroux. "Allowing for greater speed in software development and deployment, especially when it comes to fixing bugs or adding new features/functionality to application, containerization, and process automation are extremely important opportunities for increasing IT efficiency and agility."

The widespread adoption of cloud-based delivery systems has levelled the playing field for IT departments. The next battleground is finding partnerships with expert practitioners who can create more effective tools. Among experienced cloud users, 90 percent of respondents say they could benefit from outside partners' help with security policy, and 80 percent say they could benefit from outside expertise related to cloud infrastructure management.

"The focus for cloud now is how organizations can make the most of their deployments and implementations," says Warren Shiau, Director, Buyer Behaviour Practice, IDC Canada. "A major shift is the changing perception of cloud and security, with the results indicating security is not only no longer viewed as a barrier to cloud deployment - increased security is now actually perceived as a benefit."

Scalar Decisions, Amazon Web Services, and Red Hat will be holding an upcoming series of cloud containerization labs beginning in Vancouver on November 14^th. Additional labs will take place in Calgary, Toronto and Montreal throughout the month of November. For more information on each event, please visit www.scalar.ca/en/events/.

About the results
All responses were captured in September 2017 via a Canada-wide survey conducted by IDC Canada on behalf of Scalar Decisions. The final sample was 279 respondents, comprise of 200 senior level IT and business decision makers at Canadian headquartered organizations ranging in size from 50 to 500+ employees, as well as 79 screened decision makers from on-premise only organizations that do not utilize cloud IT.

The full study can be downloaded at: https://www.scalar.ca/en/landing/2017-scalar-cloud-study/

About Scalar Decisions
Scalar is Canada's leading IT solutions provider, focused on security, infrastructure, and cloud. Founded in 2004, Scalar is headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, London, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver. Scalar was recently named to the CRN Fast Growth Top 150 List and listed on the PROFIT 500 for the seventh year running. In addition, Scalar was deemed a major player in the IDC MarketScape for Canadian managed security service providers and ranked the #1 ICT security company on the 2014 - 2017 editions of the Branham 300. For further details, visit www.scalar.ca or follow Scalar on Twitter, @scalardecisions.

About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,100 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. For more than 50 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com or www.idc.ca.

SOURCE Scalar Decisions Inc.