The cloud within three years

Almost 40 per cent of small-to-medium-sized businesses globally plan to move into the cloud within three years, a major study by Microsoft has revealed.

Microsoft business channels vice president Marco Limena said during cloud adoption would be gradual, SMB would continue to operate hybrid models with an increasing blend between off-premises and traditional on-premises infrastructure for the foreseeable future.

"As cloud computing becomes more ubiquitous and SMBs' existing IT becomes outdated, adoption will grow rapidly," he said. "Hosting service providers should consider the appropriate sales, delivery and support models to target SMB clients that are likely to pay for cloud services."

The Microsoft study as well looked at the adoption of Software-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service by SMBs and found that those adopting both services were larger, more growth-oriented and usually interested in additional services just as unified communications and remote desktop support.

What is cloud computing?

What is cloud computing? This video provides an interesting take on what this new model of computing can offer businesses.