UK CFOs fear the cloud

Most CFOs at mid-sized UK firms are still unwilling to place their IT infrastructure in the cloud because of fears over data security, downtime and loss of control. They are also still unaware about the benefits offered by cloud computing.

Research commissioned by SunGard Availability Services, the business continuity specialist, questioned chief financial officers at mid-sized UK headquartered organisations about their attitudes to the cloud.

Clear picture of the cloud

And many CFOs say they do not have a clear picture of the cloud, despite cloud computing being frequently cited as a key technology to reduce IT spend.

Only one third of UK CFOs said they understood fully the benefits of moving their IT into the cloud, and less than a third say they know the difference between private and public clouds. "These are two very different approaches to cloud computing, with very different data security and integrity attributes," said SunGard.