Cloud Usage is Growing

In five years, majority of companies want to source the majority of IT applications from the cloud

Currently, just 15 percent of companies achieve this share. However, every second company wants to invest in cloud solutions this year, and two-thirds are planning to do so in 2024 or later. These are the findings of a representative survey of 554 companies with 20 or more employees from all sectors of the economy commissioned by the digital association Bitkom. "Already today, virtually all companies use cloud applications. But the intensity of use will increase sharply in the coming years. Cloud is the new normal of the digital world," says Bitkom CEO Bernhard Rohleder. "At the same time, however, it is also true that companies will not move all IT applications to the cloud, at least in the medium term."

Cloud cost and performance

In this year's investment report of the SAP user association DSAG, respondents were asked for their assessment of SAP's pricing policy in the cloud environment. Only 5 percent described themselves as satisfied with this and 20 percent assessed their status as neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, while 26 percent of respondents did not give any information. "Of course, this result does not hide the fact that SAP's pricing policy does not meet with the approval of almost half of the respondents. But I see this as a fundamental problem that customer companies have with all cloud solution providers," says Jens Hungershausen, summing up the results. And he adds: "The planned annual price increase for SAP cloud services has caused a lot of criticism among DSAG members. We are convinced that reliable mechanisms for price development are needed. This is also why these values are like an echo of a reaction from SAP customers already shown last year. A recurring annual increase in prices makes it more difficult for companies to move to the cloud."

But Bitkom has surveyed that one in nine companies using the cloud has a "cloud only" strategy, which would be in line with SAP's goals. This means that cloud computing is used for all applications and systems and existing solutions are transferred to the cloud. A further 36 percent rely on "cloud first", which means that cloud solutions are preferred for new projects and existing applications are moved to the cloud as required - a path also recommended by the DSAG association, among others.

For 35 percent, "cloud too" applies, i.e. at least partially supplementing existing IT solutions with cloud applications. "Almost half of all companies prefer cloud solutions for new IT projects. This is a clear signal to software providers, some of whom still need to adapt their offerings," says Rohleder. Companies are already using a wide variety of cloud offerings today. Storage space in the cloud is used most frequently (92 percent), followed by web conferencing (76 percent). Cloud-based databases are used by 60 percent, ERP systems by 30 percent, which is also reflected in the DSAG investment report.

Among the SAP cloud solutions, 24 percent told DSAG e. V. that they would make high and medium investments in the SAP Business Technology Platform. SAP SuccessFactors follows in second place in the ranking of SAP cloud solutions, with high and medium investments by 17 percent of respondents. SAP Customer Experience is third with 9 percent. "SAP is positioning BTP as a central element of its strategy. Against this background, it is understandable that the survey participants are considering this SAP cloud solution," says Jens Hungershausen. From DSAG's point of view, it is positive that the first migration services are now being developed. However, the costs for development, quality assurance and use of the services without a productive connection are too high - as are the costs for general operation.

Security and personnel

Companies face many hurdles when implementing cloud projects. These hurdles exist within the company itself, are set externally or concern very fundamental security issues. The biggest brake on the cloud market is the lack of qualified personnel. Other significant internal obstacles are a lack of time, overly complex migration tasks (52 percent) and excessive investment requirements (50 percent). In each case, 42 percent are inhibited in their cloud projects by resistance within their own company and a lack of external advice. Only 35 percent state that the economic benefits are unclear to them. Other obstacles to cloud projects are excessive requirements for IT security and data protection, as well as regulatory conditions, for example in certain sectors such as the financial industry or healthcare.