IT pros still see cloud as risky

Local IT professionals remain sceptical about the potential for cloud computing, with almost half rejecting the concept for security reasons.

The ISACA Oceania IT Risk/Reward survey of 218 IT managers in Australia and New Zealand found that 49 percent believed that the risks of cloud computing exceeded the benefits.

One-third thought risks and benefits were balanced, while 18 percent thought the benefits outweighed any security risks.

That attitude clearly influenced ongoing cloud computing plans. Of those surveyed, 30 percent had no plans to implement cloud solutions, 18 percent had not yet made a decision, and 22 percent had no idea what their organisation's cloud computing strategy was.

Only nine percent of those surveyed saw a role for the cloud in mission-critical environments, and 22 percent said cloud technologies would only be used for low-risk services.

Risk avoidance remains a high priority for all IT professionals, the survey suggested, though integration of IT risk into the overall business risk process remains patchy.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents said that IT risks were "somewhat addressed" in overall policies, while 19 percent said that IT and business risk planning rarely overlapped.

ISACA's Oceania survey results reflect those it collected in a similar study in the U.S., where 45 percent of respondents said that the risks of cloud computing outweighed the benefits (pdf).

Other recent surveys suggest that small to medium businesses are similarly ambivalent about cloud computing, while reworking software can be difficult even when cloud computing appears to provide a beneficial outcome.

ISACA released the results ahead of its annual user conference in Melbourne next month.