Canadian businesses that adopt "cloud-first" mindset considered to outperform peers

Study finds 73 per cent of businesses report improved ability for IT to focus on core business as a result of cloud computing

TORONTO, June 11, 2013 /CNW/ - Today, an IDC White Paper, commissioned by TELUS, was released with the results of the second annual Enterprise Cloud Study focused on business and IT leaders from large Canadian organizations. According to the study, Canadian businesses are focused on improving customer service as well as driving additional productivity and cost savings. Cloud technology and the evolving role of the IT department are key to meeting these goals. The study reveals that IT leaders are using hosting and cloud to drive significant and incremental value to their businesses. As well, the majority of forward-thinking IT leaders who integrate hosting and cloud solutions into their IT sourcing strategy believe they outperform their peers.

The IDC white paper also shows that Canadian businesses view cloud as a progression in IT services and that cloud users consider themselves to be leaders in their markets — 66 per cent and 64 per cent believe that they significantly outperform their competition in terms of revenue growth and profitability, respectively.

Further, companies with a 'cloud-first' mindset (those who view cloud as a progression in IT services and integrate cloud into their decisions about software, systems and better ways of doing business) are 25 per cent more likely to view themselves to be more innovative and progressive than their peers. These firms are also open to new technologies.

"The survey indicates that the number one priority for Canadian businesses is improving customer service.  IT leaders are realizing that moving IT functions to the cloud can have a real impact on their bottom line and can help them focus on their core business, including their customers," says Tony Krueck, vice-president, Business Solutions Marketing at TELUS. "Those who have made the move are now reaping the benefits of cloud. The IDC survey found that an impressive 81 per cent of Canadian businesses reported lowering the cost of IT due to cloud adoption."

Cloud security still top of mind for Canadian businesses, but enterprises making strides

According to the IDC white paper, lack of knowledge and concerns around data governance, particularly in organizations that lack experience with public cloud services, continue to inhibit the growth of public cloud computing. However, organizations that have adopted cloud have overcome data governance challenges and are clearly benefiting. The majority of respondents said they were able to easily overcome these challenges and that one of the top incremental benefits of cloud was improved data compliance (73 per cent of respondents).

"If we look at the results from the 2012 TELUS IDC cloud survey, the number one reason Canadian enterprises are fearful to step outside of their traditional IT comfort zone is risk," says Mark Schrutt, IDC Canada's director of services and enterprise applications. "The good news is that this year, the majority of users said they were able to easily overcome these challenges and that cloud actually was a catalyst for improving data security."

While Canadians continue to have concerns with public cloud computing, the study demonstrates that most Canadian businesses are meeting the challenges and benefiting from an IT sourcing strategy that includes cloud. These businesses are beginning to see that cloud services are typically built to a higher level of performance and security than what can be achieved internally.

The window to gain a competitive edge is closing for Canadian businesses

There remains a short window of opportunity for Canadian businesses to become knowledgeable about, plan for and expand their IT strategy to include cloud and maximize its competitive advantage. Companies that are mostly supporting IT internally need to think about what is core to their business and what can be more effectively delivered by third party providers. The study found that 55 per cent of these organizations are already considering hosting and other services as part of their business moving forward but only about one-third are considering transitioning to cloud services.

"The future of cloud looks bright for Canadian business. The IDC white paper states that over the next four years cloud will grow by 25 per cent and hosting by 9.6 per cent compared to a growth rate of 3.5 per cent for the rest of the Canadian IT market," adds Krueck. "Now is the time for businesses to develop expertise with these IT sourcing options to realize a competitive advantage."

Additional Statistics:

• The 2013 IDC and TELUS Enterprise Cloud Study found that Canadian enterprises give themselves a B+ compared to a C last year on adopting new technologies and a C, up from a D+ in 2012, on their willingness to embrace new service delivery options.
  
  
• The study found that 68 per cent of respondents that use hosting services see cloud as the next progression in their IT sourcing strategy that includes a combination of third-party services and internally delivered IT.
  
  
• The majority (60 per cent) of businesses using hosting services are looking to expand the number of hosted or cloud workloads. The study also found that 58 per cent of businesses are moving towards fully sourcing applications and infrastructure to third parties and 52 per cent stated that they would use cloud as their primary method for all new IT deployments.
  
  
• The study shows that 73 per cent of public cloud users reported that it was meeting their financial expectations.

Incremental Benefits of Cloud:

The study surveyed 250 Canadian business and IT leaders from large Canadian companies (500+ employees) across a range of industry sectors, allowing the IDC white paper to report on the Canadian corporate landscape, especially as it relates to emerging trends in technology adoption. For more information on the study, visit www.telus.com/cloudstudy.

About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $11 billion of annual revenue and 13.2 million customer connections, including 7.7 million wireless subscribers, 3.4 million wireline network access lines, 1.4 million Internet subscribers and 712,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services, including wireless, data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, television, entertainment and video.

In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed more than $300 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered 4.8 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Fourteen TELUS Community Boards lead TELUS' local philanthropic initiatives. TELUS was honoured to be named the most outstanding philanthropic corporation globally for 2010 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, becoming the first Canadian company to receive this prestigious international recognition.

For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.

SOURCE: TELUS Corporation