Irish firms to spend €190k on cloud technology

The survey of senior IT decision-makers in Ireland also found that approximately 85pc of businesses are deploying cloud technology, while more than half of those surveyed already have plans to increase the deployment of cloud technology in the next year.

When asked to list their main reasons for using cloud technology, 48pc said it provides them with the ability and flexibility to scale, while 34pc said it helps with speed of deployment.

"Cloud is essential for all businesses today – not just IT companies. In fact, it’s quite hard not to be utilising the cloud in some form or another these days.

However, businesses must ensure that they are using the cloud in a secure, efficient and innovative way that enhances their business and helps them compete in the digital era," Maurice Mortell, managing director for Ireland and emerging markets, Equinix, said.

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Despite the clear competitive advantage of using cloud, businesses face barriers to adoption, or increasing their adoption, Equinix has said.

When responding to the top barriers of using cloud technology, security risks featured strongly, with 60pc of respondents citing it as a barrier to using cloud technology.

Other factors which features strongly were loss of control of data and governance, cited by 50pc of those surveyed as a barrier to using cloud technology, while 38pc of those surveyed said that the high costs associated with deployment of cloud was a barrier to using the technology.

As the General Data Protection Regulation deadline approaches, businesses are exercising caution with regards to where their data in the cloud resides.

More than half of those surveyed said the legal jurisdiction in which their data is held 'always' affects their choice of cloud service provider, while 27pc said it 'sometimes' does.