Large IT departments lose cloud control

Capgemini questioned 460 IT leaders and senior business managers at large companies worldwide who employed over 10,000 staff, and found that almost half (45%) of organisations now had individual business units with responsibility for cloud strategies.

"The initiative for driving cloud solutions is shifting from the IT department to the business unit as companies focus more on tangible business value," said Ron Tolido, Capgemini senior vice president and chief technology officer of applications for continental Europe.

"The cloud has rapidly established a new benchmark in terms of how easy, quick and flexible solutions should be available to the business, and it puts the alignment between business and IT in a whole new perspective."

From the UK sample of those surveyed, 83% of UK firms, compared with 76% of total organisations surveyed, have decided on a strategy for adopting cloud computing. The main blocks for a move into the cloud in the UK are said to be legal issues (40%) and HR factors (27%).

Also, 38% of UK firms cite the board as a driver for the move to the cloud, while 16% say the board is a blocker. The top two industry events or triggers that will cause organisations to opt for the cloud are "emerging markets and territories" (53%) and "a new application" (23%).