Companies that use cloud services report that the risk of a security breach is the main factor limiting the larger use of these services, according to a Eurostat news release. The two main cloud services are e-mail services (66%) and file storage (53%).
Nearly all firms in the EU that employ more than 10 people have Internet access. Yet, only about one in five of these use cloud services - computing resources that are hosted by third parties on the Internet. The majority of companies do not use cloud services, largely due to insufficient knowledge of cloud computing and the perceived security risks, according to Eurostat.
The risk of a security breach was cited by 39% of enterprises in EU Member States already using cloud services as being the main factor restricting further growth in these services. Other reasons include uncertainty about legal aspects, the location of data, the costs of cloud services and a general lack of knowledge about the services.
The largest proportion by far of enterprises in EU Member States using the cloud was recorded in the information & communication sector (45%), followed by the professional, scientific and technical activities sector (27%), with shares ranging from 14% to 20% in all other economic sectors.
Strategic technology
Cloud computing is one of the strategic digital technologies considered to be important enablers for productivity and better services. The European Commission’s main innovation policy is the broad-based innovation strategy for the EU.
The above data is part of the results of a survey conducted at the beginning of 2014 on ICT usage in enterprises, with a special focus on the use of cloud computing services. The full set of data can be found in the dedicated section on ICT, under "Data", “Comprehensive databases”.
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