Symantec moving UAE businesses to cloud
Symantec Corp. announced almost half - or 46% - of small- and medium-sized
businesses (SMBs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who are not currently
using cloud services for business purposes are considering or are likely to
adopt this technology in the near future, according to the results of its
2012 SMB Cloud Adoption Survey, Global Arab Network reports according to
press release.
In addition, 24/7 protection and time savings are strong motivation for them
to adopt IT cloud services to protect their businesses from external
internet security threats and internal risks. The survey results provide
insights into how organizations with less than 250 employees perceive cloud
services, while highlighting the awareness and business attitudes toward
cloud technologies, in addition to overall business and IT challenges of the
SMB market segment. By adopting cloud services, SMBs will be better enabled
to protect their information, while maintaining existing IT staff to focus
on more productive, business critical activities.
"At Symantec, we are very aware that SMBs are driving our global economies
and are just as dependent on information to drive their business as their
larger enterprise counterparts. However, SMBs don't typically have dedicated
IT personnel to focus on the information protection making them potentially
more susceptible to risks. What's more, SMBs conduct business with many
enterprises, and today's sophisticated internet hackers see them as a
potential backdoor into these larger organizations. SMBs can benefit from
greater protection and the flexibility of newer, scalable, and
easy-to-manage technologies and services such as cloud computing," said
Justin Doo, cloud and security practice director for Middle East and North
Africa, Symantec Corp.
According to Symantec's recent 2012 Internet Security Threat Report, 18% of
all targeted attacks are directed at businesses with 250 or fewer employees.
What's more concerning is that more than 60% of the young companies hit by
cyber attacks close within six months. In today's information driven world,
it is critical for SMBs to have a solid information protection strategy and
the right technologies to protect them from external security threats and
internal risks that could disrupt their business operations.
Symantec's 2012 SMB Cloud Adoption Survey highlights that more than 50% of
organizations are more likely to adopt cloud services if it would guarantee
24/7 protection of business critical information.
SMBs in UAE are early adopters of cloud services:
- The majority of the survey respondents are at least aware of cloud
computing, and 52% of small businesses correctly identified its meaning as
data stored, secured and accessed remotely
- Almost 40% of respondents use cloud services for personal use, and
more than a quarter of respondents use cloud services for business
purposes, citing social networking sites as the top used cloud services
- 89% of those respondents who are considering adopting cloud services
in the near future expect to make the move within the next six to 24
months
- Survey respondents noted lower operational costs, greater mobility for
staff, better data protection (backup/recovery) and enhanced information
security as top reasons for considering cloud solutions, while concerns
about data security, data privacy and lack of control were noted as top
barriers to adoption of cloud computing
- Time savings from cloud services is a strong draw for adoption with
86% of respondents likely to move to cloud if it meant saving a
considerable amount of time on IT-related tasks
SMBs are fueling economy; confident in future:
- According to the survey, respondents cited insufficient time/staff to
execute work load and limited IT staff as the top business and IT
concerns, respectively
- The majority of respondents, 66%, view IT as integral to their
business with 80% expecting their IT investment to stay flat or increase
in 2012, with the increase budget allocated towards IT and productivity
technology, demonstrating the need to invest in technology to become more
efficient
- Amongst the few respondents expecting to reduce budgets over the next
year, respondents cited interest in resource saving technologies,
including virtualization and cloud
Trust is a motivating factor for SMBs to move to the cloud
- When asked how they feel about hosting business critical information
in the 'cloud', 24% of respondents feel confident, while 43% are still
ambivalent
- Building trust with a cloud provider is top of mind for small and
medium businesses. Respondents cited international credibility and local
in-country presence as key to building trust in, or ways that influence
their decision to work with, a cloud services provider. Existing customer
references was the third influencing factor
Best practices for selecting a cloud provider
As the cloud is becoming an increasingly popular delivery mechanism for
often complicated and time-consuming IT tasks, SMBs should consider best
practices for selecting the right cloud provider and to ensure they achieve
all the simplicity, affordability and efficiency the cloud has to offer.
- Bigger Isn't Always Better: Research cloud service providers before
making any decisions. The service provider's reputation and how long they
have been offering cloud services should trump their actual size. Look for
a cloud specialist with reputable technology that knows the industry.
- Understand Your Security Needs: There has been much hype surrounding
the security of the cloud, but there is very little difference between the
trust you place in your Internet Services Provider (ISP) and/or your other
technology vendors. With that in mind, every organization's security needs
and expectations are different so it's important to understand how the
vendor can meet those needs.
- Know the Basics of Data Back-up: Know how the cloud provider backs up
data and in the worst-case scenario, what would happen if they went out of
business or if you wanted to move data to another provider. Get a feel for
the provider's storage reputation, the number and location of their data
centers and redundancy of their infrastructure.
- Secure Good SLAs: The best way to ensure good service is with solid
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with clear contractual language. Look for
vendors who define and utilize SLAs as part of their value proposition.
- Evaluate Customer Service Standards: The best customer service
departments for cloud services are staffed with cloud specialists who are
available 24x7. Ensure that your chosen vendor's customer service
specialists can meet your organization's needs.
- Test the Service: A key advantage of cloud services is that it makes
it easy to deploy a free trial and most vendors offer this to those
considering their services. Start small with the trial and once satisfied,
you can expand the service to include confidential data and other
mission-critical systems.
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