Execs toe IT line on cloud take-up

Four out of five executives in Australia and New Zealand are unwilling to bypass IT in order to consume cloud services, according to research by analyst firm IDC.

The research tests - and debunks - a myth perpetuated by as-a-service providers in particular, that line-of-business workers will circumvent IT in order to use cloud services.

It finds that only one in five A/NZ executives is willing to ignore IT and consume unsanctioned public cloud applications.

"One of the big assumptions that was being used by a lot of people was if you don't do it then a line-of-business manager is going to grab a credit card and jump on one of those public cloud services," IDC research manager Trevor Clarke told iTnews.

"Not everyone will, and that's a good sign."

The research did not explore the types of cloud services that executives were most willing to bypass IT to consume. Clarke said this would be explored in further research.

He noted that unsanctioned cloud consumption was akin to trends around consumerisation of IT - "individuals wanting to use their technology of choice when they want to use it".

Chief information officers and IT departments that were not across the "needs and pace of those needs in the organisation" ran the risk of "just being a fulfilment office when [users] need you to be, as opposed to a driving force in the organisation".

"[However], if IT gets on board and is proactive about helping people evaluate and procure what is reasonable and what is needed and good for the organisation then they'll get support," Clarke said.