Almost 60 per cent of European CIOs using cloud computing

Nearly 60 per cent of European CIOs are already using cloud services – even if they don't realise it. That's according to a new survey from IDC which found that the use of cloud services was more prevalent than had been expected.

The revelation was particularly revealing given that 50 per cent of the same CIOs said they were not using cloud services when asked a more general question – and about a third say they won't be using cloud computing within the next five years, said Marianne Kolding, associate vice president, European services and software, IDC . "The results change when they're asked about specific products, however," she added. She explained that this suggested some CIOs weren't aware that some of the technologies they were using were actually cloud technologies.

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Kolding was speaking at an event commemorating IDC's 40th birthday (IDC is a sister company of IDG, publisher of CIO) and revealed details of spending plans for Europe for the coming year.

The signs are for an increase in spending said Kolding, although vendors probably can't pop the champagne just yet, the increases are modest and there are still a significant number of CIOs whose top priority is reducing costs, she said. But, she added, 45 per cent of organisations did expect IT spending to grow.

High priorities on CIOs' shopping list of technologies include virtualisation, although security is not far behind, with storage management third on the list "Security is always up there," said Kolding.

There's little interest in green technology, particularly compared with the situation a few years ago. "In previous years, people were only talking about green and innovation but we don't hear so much about that. Now they're only interested in the green label when it offers something else too – like cost savings," she said.

For the survey, IDC questioned 673 CIOs across Europe, said Kolding.

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