The report, which surveyed more than 1,200 senior IT professionals across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, also found that 60% of EMEA IT leaders view proximity to cloud service providers (CSPs) as key when choosing a data centre in their local market.
“The findings of this survey validate that direct interconnection to cloud service providers is one of the most secure ways to deploy integrated cloud-based applications and services, said John Abel, VP of cloud and innovation for UK, Ireland and Israel at Oracle. “Our customers take security very seriously , which is why we work with organisations such as Equinix to help ensure we provide them with the most robust and secure cloud services available today.”
Other findings show that despite more businesses moving to the cloud, 70% of respondents still believe there to be cybersecurity risks around cloud adoption. In addition, large public data breaches have caused uncertainty among companies, leading to 45% of respondents focusing on improving their organisation’s cybersecurity as their biggest IT priority.
“The results of this survey reveal the huge shift towards cloud as businesses across EMEA prepare to compete in the digital economy. Cybersecurity risks and breaches are of course a matter for close attention but must not prevent businesses from undergoing digital transformation. Hybrid and multi-cloud models are essential for today’s era of globalised coopetition,” added Eric Schwartz (pictured), president EMEA at Equinix.
Cloud and cybersecurity remain top priority for IT executives across the region. 48% of those surveyed, said that the adoption of cloud-based services represented one of the top two factors that will impact their business in the future — second only to cybersecurity risks and breaches which 53% said was top. The results also showed that companies across EMEA are twice as likely to connect with CSPs than any other product or service provider.
“With so many UK businesses planning a move to the cloud in the near future, and at a faster rate than businesses across EMEA, it is clear that the UK is at the forefront of EMEA’s digital economy. That 64% of the UK’s IT leaders believe that the UK is still the best place in Europe to interconnect with partners, customers and CSPs due to the UK’s flourishing data centre industry, despite political uncertainty, is testament to the resilience of the UK’s digital infrastructure,” said Russell Poole, managing director UK, Equinix.
In the UK, 67% of businesses believe that cybersecurity risks and breaches are the biggest issues impacting their business in the future. 75% also believe their organisation will move more to the cloud, 31% think cloud service providers are the type of business their organisation is most likely to connect with in the future.
Interestingly, despite Brexit, 64% of senior IT decision-makers in the UK also believe that due to the UK’s flourishing data centre industry, the UK is the best place in Europe to interconnect with partners, customers, supply chain and cloud service providers.
Across EMEA, 17% of organisations are currently using multi-cloud architecture. This compares to 56% who currently use private cloud and 42% who use public cloud.
“This insightful and timely study proves that, while challenges may vary by market, enterprises consistently rank cybersecurity among their top concerns,” said Vincent Lavergne, RVP, Systems Engineering, F5 Networks.
