Survey Report: Behind the Growing Confidence in Cloud Security Google Cloud... · 4 Survey Report:...
Transcript of Survey Report: Behind the Growing Confidence in Cloud Security Google Cloud... · 4 Survey Report:...
custom research
report
Survey Report: Behind the Growing Confidence in Cloud Security
ON BEHALF OF:
September 2017
1 Survey Report: Behind the Growing Confidence in Cloud Security
custom research
report
ContentsSponsor’s viewpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Figure 1: Agility, security and speed top cloud benefits
Strategic adoption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Figure 2: Data storage the top cloud workload; ML/AI projects the most growthFigure 3: IoT will be the most deployed data type to the cloud in two years
Assessing cloud security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Figure 4: Protecting data is the top cloud security requirement
Pockets of skepticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Figure 5: Among skeptics, security concerns still a barrier to cloud deploymentFigure 6: Senior executives in large companies are most skeptical of cloud
Future cloud usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Figure 7: ML/AI is ideally suited for the cloud
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Copyright and Disclaimer Notices
Google Inc. does not make any guarantees or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of this report. Google Inc. shall not be liable to the user or
anyone else for any inaccuracy, error or omission, regardless of cause, or for any damages resulting therefrom. In no event will Google Inc., nor other
companies or third-party licensors be liable for any indirect, special or consequential damages, including but not limited to lost time, lost money, lost
profits or lost good will, whether in contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise, and whether or not such damages are foreseen or unforeseen with respect
to any use of this document. This document, or any portion thereof, may not be reproduced, transmitted, introduced into a retrieval system or distrib-
uted without the written consent of Google Inc.
© Copyright 2017 Google Inc. All rights reserved. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
custom research
report
THE MORE YOU KNOW, the more you trust the cloud with your
most important data.
So said a recent global survey of more than 500 IT decision-makers conducted on behalf of
Google Cloud in association with MIT SMR Custom Studio. Those respondents who had the
most direct experience with cloud technology were more confident in its security.
It’s no surprise that more companies are looking to cloud computing as a critical component of
their IT strategies. But in addition to traditional drivers of cloud adoption, such as speed and
agility, security is playing an increasing role in the decision to move to the cloud. And IT leaders
with direct cloud experience are leading the charge.
Pockets of doubt remain, of course. And the security of your IT stack will always depend on the
partners and implementation models you choose. Here at Google Cloud, we’ve invested
deeply in security, all the way from purpose-built hardware to almost every facet of our day-to-
day operations. It’s gratifying to see IT leaders recognizing that, in many cases, moving to the
cloud can actually enhance security.
Read on to learn more about the top workloads companies are migrating to the cloud,
as well as the measures they’re taking to manage security across cloud platforms. And when
you’re ready to talk to a cloud partner, contact us at https://cloud.google.com/contact. n
More and more businesses trust the cloud. Here’s why.
Rob SadowskiTrust & Security, Google Cloud
S P O N S O R ’ S V I E W P O I N T
2
3 Survey Report: Behind the Growing Confidence in Cloud Security
custom research
report
• “Increased confidence in cloud security,”
along with “increased need for agility and
speed,” are the prime drivers for the projected
growth in cloud adoption, as are the need for
increased business and technical flexibility, as
well as improved integration with new tools
and platforms.
• Data analytics, data storage and collaboration
are the top workloads currently implemented
in the cloud or expected to be deployed with-
in the next two years.
• Machine learning and artificial intelligence are
the fastest growing workloads, with cloud de-
ployment expected to nearly double by 2019.
• The use of cloud has increased from 24
percent of workloads to 44 percent over the
past two years, and it’s expected to rise to 65
percent of workloads in the next two years.
Executive summary
Steady growth in use of cloud Respondents were asked: Please estimate what portion of your
applications, data and/or infrastructure…
…were cloud-based two years ago …are cloud-based today
…will be cloud-based two years from now
24% + 20% + 21%44%
65%
N=509Base: Survey of 509 IT and business executives at midsize and large enterprise organizations worldwideSource: MIT SMR Custom Studio/Google, June 2017 Cloud Security Survey
Three of four respondents have become more
confident in cloud securityRespondents were asked: Over the last two years, how has your overall confidence in the security of
cloud applications and infrastructure changed?
Increased confidence
74%
Stayed about the same
25%
Decreasedconfidence
1%
N=509Base: Survey of 509 IT and business executives at midsize and large enterprise organizations worldwideSource: MIT SMR Custom Studio/Google, June 2017 Cloud Security Survey
4 Survey Report: Behind the Growing Confidence in Cloud Security
custom research
report
• Specifically focusing on how companies are
adopting and managing cloud security, the
25-question (excluding demographics) online
survey was distributed via email invitation and
conducted between June 8 and June 22, 2017.
• We received 509 completed survey responses.
Thirty-eight percent were from North America (U.S.
and Canada); 18 percent from Latin America (Mexico,
Brazil); 24 percent from Europe — U.K., France,
Germany — the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and 20
percent from Japan and Asia-Pacific (Australia/New
Zealand, India, Japan — JAPAC).
• The survey targeted CIOs and senior business
executives (including directors, vice presidents,
general managers and C-level executives)
who influence or are involved in their
company’s IT decisions and initiatives. For
enterprise organizations in North America,
Latin America, EMEA and JAPAC, 72 percent of
survey respondents were in IT and 28 percent
represented their firm’s lines of business.
• Only survey respondents with significant
awareness of cloud technologies were qualified to
complete the survey.
• The survey targeted companies with 1,000+
employees in the U.S. and 500+ employees in other
regions. Among survey respondents, 40 percent
represented companies with 5,000+ employees, 45
percent represented companies with 1,000–4,999
employees and 15 percent represented companies
with fewer than 1,000 employees.
Respondent profileNumber of employees
Job title Functional area
N=509Base: Survey of 509 IT and business executives at midsize and large enterprise organizations worldwideSource: MIT SMR Custom Studio/Google, June 2017 Cloud Security Survey
500–999 employees
15%
Director42%
Line of business
28%
IT72%
C-level29%
VP/GM29%
1,000–4,999 employees
45%
5,000+ employees
40%
Methodology
Survey Report: Behind the Growing Confidence in Cloud Security5
custom research
report
The age of unthinking
fears about cloud
security is over.
Not only is cloud
adoption rising steadily across
geographies, industries and job
functions, but confidence in cloud
security is rising as well — to the
point where increased security is
a major reason enterprises opt for
cloud solutions.
According to a recent survey of more than 500 global
respondents conducted on behalf of Google Cloud in
association with MIT SMR Custom Studio, use of the
cloud has increased from 24 percent of workloads to
44 percent over the past two years, and is expected to
rise to 65 percent of workloads by 2019.
Gone are the days when organizations accessed ap-
plications and infrastructure over the internet only
because it was the least expensive way to scale com-
pute, storage and networking resources as business
needs changed. The cloud today is a strategic ne-
cessity, with increased agility, integration and speed
(as well as security) being the prime drivers of its in-
creased adoption (see Figure 1, “Agility, security and
speed top cloud benefits,” on page 6).
This more strategic approach extends to how or-
ganizations manage the cloud. The survey results
show that these companies are taking a thorough,
Security is a top driver of enterprise cloud adoption
Introduction
6 Survey Report: Behind the Growing Confidence in Cloud Security
custom research
report
systematic approach to assess-
ing the security of applications,
infrastructure and platforms ac-
cessed over the internet. Also
shown by the results is that first-
hand experience often separates
cloud believers from skeptics.
As another indicator of the grow-
ing maturity in cloud manage-
ment, there is substantial agree-
ment across industries, regions
and roles about the capabilities
necessary to achieve the re-
quired levels of cloud security.
But whether out of uncertainty about how their ap-
plications will fare in the cloud or how regulators will
treat cloud-based data, not everyone is convinced:
Among those still hesitant to adopt the cloud, securi-
ty remains the primary concern.
This report examines the growing confidence com-
panies have in cloud security, how they are basing
their hosting decisions on the flexibility and inte-
gration offered by the cloud, and their plans to use
the cloud for future workloads such as artificial
intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). It also
drills deeper into these organizations’ perceptions of
the security capabilities they need from vendors, as
well as why the skeptics remain unconvinced.
Strategic Adoption
In this digital age, businesses must quickly deploy
new applications and services, share data with new
devices and business partners, and adopt new tech-
nology. When asked why they currently deploy, or
plan to deploy, specific workloads to the cloud, sur-
vey respondents consistently cited “increased flexi-
bility in business processes and vendor choices” and
the “ability to integrate with new tools and platforms”
as the top two reasons for deploying most workloads.
“The cloud has the state-of-the-art development
tools and enables things like DevOps and container
technology” that developers want to use to design
and deploy applications more rapidly, says Jim Reavis,
co-founder and chief executive officer of the Cloud
Security Alliance, a non-profit organization that pro-
motes best practices in cloud security. The cloud also
enables organizations to ramp their resources with-
out having to order and install servers and to “quickly
test an application or pilot a new business process
and then iterate it,” he says. Indeed, 31 percent of
cloud survey respondents cited the “ability to inte-
grate with new tools/platforms” as a main reason for
choosing to deploy workloads to the cloud.
Agility, security and speed top cloud benefits
N=447Base: Survey of 509 IT and business executives at midsize and large enterprise organizations worldwideSource: MIT SMR Custom Studio/Google, June 2017 Cloud Security Survey
Respondents were asked: Which of the following best describes why your overall use of the cloud has increased in the past two years (choose up to two responses)?
Figure 1
45%
44%
34%
30%
25%
6%
1%
Increased need for agility/speed to market
Increased confidence in cloud security
Cost savings
Positive experience working withcloud provider
Launching new/experimental apps that were well suited to the cloud
Following lead of other companies
Other
7 Survey Report: Behind the Growing Confidence in Cloud Security
custom research
report
Late adopters just moving to the cloud first deploy
methodologies such as agile development, contin-
uous integration and continuous delivery of appli-
cations in-house “as part of their plan to get ready
for the cloud,” says Doug Cahill, a senior analyst at
consultancy Enterprise Strategy Group. He says the
approach these laggards often take is to begin con-
tinuous integration and delivery on-premises so that
they understand how to expand their use as they
move to the cloud.
When asked why their use of the cloud has increased
over the past two years, respondents cited the top
three drivers as “increased need for agility/speed to
market” (45 percent), “increased confidence in cloud
security” (44 percent) and “cost savings” (34 percent).
It doesn’t provide much to boost an organization’s
flexibility and business processes “if you’re using the
cloud just to displace
hardware down in your
basement,” says Stuart
Madnick, professor of in-
formation technology at
the MIT Sloan School of
Management. He asserts
that more significant ben-
efits come from combin-
ing a move to the cloud
with a more modular, web
services architecture that
makes it easier to share
important data both with-
in the organization and
with business partners.
Among respondents, data storage was the workload
most commonly implemented or planned to be
implemented in the cloud, followed by collaboration/
productivity, application development and the Inter-
net of Things (IoT). Respondents also indicated that
almost 90 percent of each of those workloads would
be deployed in the cloud by 2019. The IoT was a popu-
lar use case for cloud (56 percent currently deployed
to the cloud and 90 percent deployed by 2019) — a
somewhat surprising finding, given that much of the
growth in such internet-connected devices is still ex-
pected to come (see Figure 2, “Data storage the top
cloud workload; ML/AI projects the most growth,” above).
According to Roy Illsley, a principal analyst with ana-
lyst firm Ovum, much of the IoT data currently hosted
in the cloud comes from long-established platforms
such as industrial control systems. But as companies
deploy more data from newer IoT devices to the cloud,
N=506; totals may exceed 100% due to roundingBase: Survey of 509 IT and business executives at midsize and large enterprise organizations worldwideSource: MIT SMR Custom Studio/Google, June 2017 Cloud Security Survey
Data storage the top cloud workload; ML/AI projects the most growth
Respondents were asked: Of those workloads currently implemented by your organization, which have been deployed to the cloud? Of the workloads you will implement in the next two years,
which will be deployed to the cloud?
Figure 2
75%
63%
61%
57%
57% 33%
10%34%56%
50%
31% 56% 13%
38% 13%
29% 14%
24% 16%
30% 8%
17% 9%
10%
Data storage
Collaboration/productivity
Application development
Customer- or partner-facing websites
Data analytics
Internet of Things (IoT)
Business connectivity/disaster recovery
Machine learning/artificial intelligence
Currently deployed Will be deployed Will not be in cloud
8 Survey Report: Behind the Growing Confidence in Cloud Security
custom research
report
he predicts providers
will create new services
that store such data on
the physical “edge” of
the network so it can be
analyzed quickly enough
for devices to respond
to changing conditions
in real time. This “edge”
data could sit anywhere
from small storage de-
vices on telephone poles
to shared data centers
in industrial areas serv-
ing multiple customers,
he says. This will enable,
for example, data about
the performance of a manufacturing robot, pressures
in an oil well or traffic on local roads to be analyzed
quickly to anticipate and prevent problems.
Customer and employee records (at 59 percent),
along with data from the IoT (also 59 percent),
were the three data types most likely to be hosted
in the cloud today, followed closely by corporate
financial data, product development material and
corporate human resources (HR) records.
In another sign of growing confidence in cloud se-
curity, even organizations with highly regulated data
cited “increased security” as an incentive to move to
the cloud. Top candidates for increased cloud deploy-
ment in the next two years were data governed by
medical and financial privacy regulations and corpo-
rate financial data (see Figure 3, “IoT will be the most
deployed data type to the cloud in two years,” above).
According to Rik Turner, principal analyst, infrastruc-
ture solutions at Ovum, even the security-conscious
financial services industry “seems to have been won
over, by and large.” Ovum recently surveyed 75 top-tier
banks around the world, Turner notes. “We...were
surprised by the number that said they were mi-
grating workloads to the public cloud on an almost
wholesale basis.”
Assessing Cloud Security
What’s behind the rising confidence in cloud securi-
ty? Firsthand experience, and careful, systematic as-
sessments that tap multiple sources such as detailed
audits and comparisons. The most frequent driver of
increased confidence was “direct experience of the
quality of security in the cloud versus on-premises,”
cited by 67 percent of our respondents, followed
by the 51 percent who relied on a “detailed audit/
examination of on-premises vs. cloud security.”
N=488Base: Survey of 509 IT and business executives at midsize and large enterprise organizations worldwideSource: MIT SMR Custom Studio/Google, June 2017 Cloud Security Survey
IoT will be the most deployed data type to the cloud in two years
Respondents were asked: Of those data types currently implemented by your organization, which have been deployed to the cloud? Of those data types your organization plans to implement in
the next two years, which do you plan to deploy to the cloud?
Figure 3
Currently deployed
Employee-generated records
Data from connected (IoT) devices
Customer records
Product development materials
Source code
Regulated data (covered by PCI, HIPAA, etc.)
Corporate HR records
Corporate financial data
59%
59%
56% 31% 13%
21%24%55%
20%29%51%
15%34%51%
16%34%50%
21%31%48%
32% 9%
28% 13%
Will be deployed Will not be in cloud
9 Survey Report: Behind the Growing Confidence in Cloud Security
custom research
report
As the most influential factors in their assessment of
cloud security, respondents cited, in order:
• Assessments by their own security team.
• Support for security and compliance standards.
• Security tools provided by the cloud vendor.
• Recommendations from analysts and consultants.
Unsurprisingly, the most frequently mentioned secu-
rity requirement was data protection (at 71 percent),
followed by protecting apps and websites from com-
promise or downtime, reports on security incidents
and how the cloud provider responded to them,
and auditability and safeguards against cloud staff
accessing customer data (see Figure 4, “Protecting
data is the top cloud security requirements,” above).
According to Cloud Security Alliance’s Reavis, cloud
providers can still do more to meet users’ needs in
terms of reporting, particularly with what they in-
clude in log files. Standards for what information
can be shared in in-
cident reports may
require changes to
service provider con-
tracts that currently
prohibit a provider
from telling one cus-
tomer another cus-
tomer’s information
was compromised.
However, although
“auditability and re-
porting are very im-
portant, those are al-
most table stakes,” says
Michael Fuller, associate principal at consultancy The
Hackett Group. “What we hear most often, aside from
flexibility and cost, is availability,” such as application
uptime or meeting specific objectives for recovery af-
ter an outage. This is especially true, Fuller says, for
small to midsize businesses with sales of $500 million
to $3–$4 billion. Indeed, 59 percent of survey respon-
dents cited “protect applications or websites from
compromise/downtime” as one of their top cloud se-
curity requirements.
When asked what capabilities they need from a
cloud provider to be confident in the provider’s
infrastructure security, respondents cited the full
range of offerings — essentially, they want it all.
“We are hearing that cybersecurity professionals pri-
oritize encryption of both data at rest and data in mo-
tion as the most effective technologies for protecting
data in the cloud,” says Holger Schulze, founder of the
N=509Base: Survey of 509 IT and business executives at midsize and large enterprise organizations worldwideSource: MIT SMR Custom Studio/Google, June 2017 Cloud Security Survey
Protecting data is the top cloud security requirementRespondents were asked how important the following factors are to
their cloud security. (Multiple answers permitted.)
Figure 4
Protect data from compromise/unauthorized access
Auditability for compliance/regulatory/auditing purposes
Protect applications or websites from compromise/downtime
Incident reports detailing security vulnerabilities or breaches, and how the
cloud provider responded
Safeguards limiting access by cloud provider sta� to my systems or data
Ability to manage strength of encryption or the encryption process myself
Somewhat important
Very important17%71%
34%
26%
31%
31%52%
41% 38%
54%
59%
52%
10 Survey Report: Behind the Growing Confidence in Cloud Security
custom research
report
350,000-member Information Security Community
on LinkedIn. In our survey, nearly 80 of respondents
said it was somewhat or very important for their orga-
nizations to manage the strength of their encryption
or to manage the encryption process itself. However,
whether the company or its cloud provider controls
the encryption keys is often “a really big bone of con-
tention,” Fuller says.
The ability for a customer to utilize a cloud provider’s
encryption but manage their own keys “is kind of the
holy grail” of encryption, Reavis says. “But it’s not always
realistic, in every instance, depending on how appli-
cations are architected.” He also said it’s more difficult
with applications that require managing access (and
encryption keys) for many users.
Pockets of Skepticism
For all the widespread adoption of, and confidence in,
cloud computing, a minority of respondents still con-
sidered security concerns a barrier
to adoption (see Figure 5, “Among
skeptics, security concerns still a
barrier to cloud deployment,” right).
Security was the top reason respon-
dents cited for not moving data stor-
age, customer- or partner-facing
websites and IoT data to the cloud.
And only 59 percent of business
decision-makers said their confi-
dence in the cloud had increased in
the last two years, compared to 81
percent of IT respondents.
Overall, IT respondents had more
confidence in cloud security than
their business counterparts, with
those at the director level in their businesses being the
most skeptical. Larger companies also tended to have
greater cloud security concerns than smaller firms
(see Figure 6, “Senior executives in large companies
most skeptical of the cloud,” on page 11).
One factor that can increase security con-
cerns, says Enterprise Strategy Group’s
Cahill, is the “lack of visibility” into cloud secu-
rity controls for companies accustomed to run-
ning their own infrastructure in-house. The in-
ability to simply “plug in the security controls
they’re used to, like a next-generation firewall
at the perimeter,” can be disconcerting, he says.
One major reason for corporate security fears, says
The Hackett Group’s Fuller, is “a lack of confidence in
their own architectural capabilities.” Without a deep
understanding of their architectures, many compa-
nies are now unsure how to secure them in the cloud.
N=295, N=230Base: Survey of 509 IT and business executives at midsize and large enterprise organizations worldwideSource: MIT SMR Custom Studio/Google, June 2017 Cloud Security Survey
Among skeptics, security concerns still a barrier to cloud deployment
Respondents were asked: What are the main reasons you chose NOT to deploy workloads or data to the cloud? (Multiple answers permitted.)
Figure 5
Data
Workloads
41%
29%
19%
22%
24%
22%
12%
20%
19%
63%
Security concerns
Lack of internal expertise
Lack of internal buy-in
Budgetary concerns
Little to no interest in workload or not appropriate
for our organization
11 Survey Report: Behind the Growing Confidence in Cloud Security
custom research
report
Future Cloud Usage
As the universe of data expands and organizations seek
to mine it for insights, the scalability and flexibility of
the cloud will become increasingly important.
The survey results suggest that machine learn-
ing and artificial intelligence will be the fastest
growing workloads for cloud adoption. Thirty-five
percent of respondents said they either cur-
rently implement or plan to implement ML/AI in
the cloud in the next two years. By 2019, 87 per-
cent of that implementation will be deployed to
the cloud. Business continuity/disaster recov-
ery and IoT workloads will also see strong growth
in cloud deployment over the same time period.
Respondents indicated that those who seek to deploy
ML/AI in the cloud are especially drawn to the speed,
flexibility and integrative capabilities it offers (see Figure
7, “ML/AI is ideally suited for the cloud,” on page 12).
“The on-demand compute and storage available in
the cloud are very useful for data-intensive com-
pute tasks like machine learning and artificial in-
telligence,” Cahill says. The scalability of cloud data
storage is also an asset, because the more data
available for machine learning, the better the result.
Cloud-based machine learning and analytics can be
used not only for research and business analytics but
also to improve IT security by finding signs of poten-
tial attacks among otherwise normal data, he says. Ad-
ditionally, the Cloud Security Alliance’s Jim Reavis says
such automated security could help cloud users secure
the growing quantities of data needed for ML and AI.
N=285, N=184Base: Survey of 509 IT and business executives at midsize and large enterprise organizations worldwideSource: MIT SMR Custom Studio/Google, June 2017 Cloud Security Survey
Mid-level executives and those in large companies are most skeptical of cloud
Among survey respondents, those at the director level and those in companies with 5,000+ employees were most likely to indicate concerns about cloud security.
Figure 6
Those who view security as a reason TO deploy Those who view security as a reason NOT TO deploy
Job function Job responsibility Number of employees84%
63%
16%
37%34%
46%
33%28%
33%26%
18%13%
50%
39%32%
48%
IT Line ofbusiness
Director VP/GM C-Level 500 -999
1,000 - 4,999
5,000+
12 Survey Report: Behind the Growing Confidence in Cloud Security
custom research
report
Cloud providers may also help companies move to
the cloud with libraries of easy-to-use analytic algo-
rithms, as well as application programming interfaces
(APIs) to ease the exchange of data among cloud pro-
viders, Reavis says. Many of them provide big data plat-
forms and capabilities, which save companies the cost
of both the equipment and the staff to perform such
analysis themselves, says MIT Sloan’s Stuart Madnick.
Conclusion
Based on our survey results, the mega-trends that
make the cloud so essential — the need for agility, flex-
ibility and security for ever-rising amounts of data —
continue to accelerate. Across industries, geographies
and lines of business, the cloud is increasingly the
preferred choice for companies seeking to move fast,
stay flexible and keep their customers’ data secure.
Furthermore, transformational technologies will only
accelerate this growth. Machine learning is a natural
fit for the flexibility, scalability and integration ca-
pabilities provided by the cloud because it requires
so much data and computing power. So is the IoT, if
cloud providers can build the decentralized networks
of data centers required to quickly analyze data and
deliver the results to decentralized devices.
Although there are still some gaps in cloud confi-
dence and usage, these survey results indicate they
are more significantly due to a lack of education and
awareness than to actual gaps in cloud security, es-
pecially among respondents who are business users.
For today’s cloud user, security and even cost are
yesterday’s conversations. The far more compelling
vision is of an enterprise empowered by the cloud to
continuously deliver ever more efficient, agile and in-
novative applications and services. n
N=155, N=1,822Base: Survey of 509 IT and business executives at midsize and large enterprise organizations worldwideSource: MIT SMR Custom Studio/Google, June 2017 Cloud Security Survey
ML/AI is ideally suited for the cloudWhen survey respondents were asked what drives their workload deployment to the cloud,
those deploying or intending to deploy machine learning/artificial intelligence cited flexibility, speed and the ability to integrate more often — and cost and security less often —
than did those deploying other workloads.
Figure 7
Ability to integrate with new tools/platforms
Increased flexibility in business process and vendor choices
Faster application deployment and iteration
Cost savings
Strategic shift away from on-premises systems
Increased security
41%
31%
40%
32%
31%
27%
19%
31%
19%
22%
14%
23%
ML/AI
All workloads