The GFI Software study, which took in responses from 250 SMEs, found that a "surprisingly high" level of senior business decision-makers and IT professionals are still unclear about what cloud computing is, and how it can improve their business.
What's interesting about the study is that it notes that security fears are not the main concern for organisations considering cloud computing. Although security is the second highest perceived disadvantage – after vendor lock-in – only 12% cite it as a main reason for not actually pursuing cloud computing.
The message about reduced costs also doesn't seem to be getting through, as more than half of all respondents (56%) said they will not pursue cloud computing because their needs are met by their current in-house IT resources.
GFI says that the top three perceived benefits of cloud computing are the expertise of the service provider, lower costs and accountability, but that SMEs are increasingly embracing a hybrid model that mixes and matches services to reflect their needs and existing resources.
The further down the SME food chain you go, the less the take-up of cloud computing appears to be, as whilst 86% of companies of 100–249 staff have deployed or are currently deploying the technology, only 69% of companies of 10–99 employees and 39% of companies with under 10 employees have done or are doing so.
Commenting on the report, Walter Scott, GFI Software's CEO, said: "The UK market seems to be confused by jargon and synonymous terminology and appears to have been susceptible to scaremongering by on-premise providers."
"Unless these trends can be reversed, UK SMEs are unlikely to reap the benefits of cloud computing for many years to come", he noted.