According to a current survey conducted by the Experton Group, cloud computing is evolving from media hype to a concrete project in many companies. Notably in upscale medium-sized businesses - the core target group of the Pironet NDH Datacenter - one fifth of the companies questioned already use cloud services. A total of 42 per cent are involved in considering IT services from the cloud. As already shown in the Experton Cloud Study in the early part of the year, Pironet NDH has positioned itself as a service provider in the cloud environment. Taking all sizes of companies into account, Pironet NDH was voted the best medium-sized provider. People from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who were questioned gave the outsourcing specialist from Cologne good to very good performance ratings for its cloud services.
SMEs calling for cloud services as part of a holistic offering
"We regard the results of the survey as confirming our strategy of consistently dynamising our outsourcing portfolio and offering cloud computing based on demand services," explains Felix Höger, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, Pironet NDH AG, and Managing Director, Pironet NDH Datacenter. Mr Höger considers the trend that is seeing upscale medium-sized businesses driving the demand for cloud computing to be of particular strategic importance: "In this customer environment we can stand out clearly from corporate groups which compete with us. The holistic approach of our business cloud, which in addition to applications, computing power and storage also offers the necessary network infrastructure, satisfies precisely the main requirement of the companies surveyed for end-to-end quality for all services."
German data centre locations and security certification
In the survey the participants once again emphasised the importance of legal security for cloud computing. Small and medium-sized enterprises in particular set store by data centre locations in Germany, a German headquarters and independent proof of quality. As Mr Höger says: "This is why we use only certified high-security data centres in Germany. Our two locations were recently awarded the highest ranking of five stars by the Verband der deutschen Internetwirtschaft eco (Association of the German Internet Industry) in the context of the Datacenter Star Audit. We also organise our IT security management in accordance with the international ISO Standard 27001 - something which is to date an exception among small and medium-sized enterprises," adds Mr Höger.
Flexibilisation of costs and compliance are very much a topic for SMEs
Mr Höger sees contradictions between the results of the survey and his own experience in the SME sector with regard to the topics of costs and compliance. "In the study, for example, the flexibilisation of costs surprisingly played only a rather subordinate role," explains Höger. "In practice we find that SMEs tend not to be so interested in merely cutting costs as in changing their cost structures on a long-term basis to enable them to adjust their IT budget more quickly to their business operations when necessary."
In the discussion about security in the cloud, in practice Mr Höger has noticed a change of attitude amongst business customers: "The topic of commissioned data processing from the German Data Protection Act is an Achilles' heel for SME's IT environments. Many companies are barely able to guarantee the protection of sensitive customer data. People are currently rethinking matters here. Companies are just as openly focusing on new sourcing models for IT, as the survey shows. For many medium-sized companies cloud computing therefore does not involve danger, but amounts to a quantum leap in terms of IT security and data storage in accordance with legal requirements."
Cloud computing must strengthen its image as a product
From the provider viewpoint, however, Felix Höger derives new tasks from the results of the survey: "The services of cloud computing are still not tangible enough for many companies. Consequently cloud computing must strengthen its image as a product. This applies just as much to communication as to the product design itself, for example through self-service portals and automated reporting."
SMEs calling for cloud services as part of a holistic offering
"We regard the results of the survey as confirming our strategy of consistently dynamising our outsourcing portfolio and offering cloud computing based on demand services," explains Felix Höger, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, Pironet NDH AG, and Managing Director, Pironet NDH Datacenter. Mr Höger considers the trend that is seeing upscale medium-sized businesses driving the demand for cloud computing to be of particular strategic importance: "In this customer environment we can stand out clearly from corporate groups which compete with us. The holistic approach of our business cloud, which in addition to applications, computing power and storage also offers the necessary network infrastructure, satisfies precisely the main requirement of the companies surveyed for end-to-end quality for all services."
German data centre locations and security certification
In the survey the participants once again emphasised the importance of legal security for cloud computing. Small and medium-sized enterprises in particular set store by data centre locations in Germany, a German headquarters and independent proof of quality. As Mr Höger says: "This is why we use only certified high-security data centres in Germany. Our two locations were recently awarded the highest ranking of five stars by the Verband der deutschen Internetwirtschaft eco (Association of the German Internet Industry) in the context of the Datacenter Star Audit. We also organise our IT security management in accordance with the international ISO Standard 27001 - something which is to date an exception among small and medium-sized enterprises," adds Mr Höger.
Flexibilisation of costs and compliance are very much a topic for SMEs
Mr Höger sees contradictions between the results of the survey and his own experience in the SME sector with regard to the topics of costs and compliance. "In the study, for example, the flexibilisation of costs surprisingly played only a rather subordinate role," explains Höger. "In practice we find that SMEs tend not to be so interested in merely cutting costs as in changing their cost structures on a long-term basis to enable them to adjust their IT budget more quickly to their business operations when necessary."
In the discussion about security in the cloud, in practice Mr Höger has noticed a change of attitude amongst business customers: "The topic of commissioned data processing from the German Data Protection Act is an Achilles' heel for SME's IT environments. Many companies are barely able to guarantee the protection of sensitive customer data. People are currently rethinking matters here. Companies are just as openly focusing on new sourcing models for IT, as the survey shows. For many medium-sized companies cloud computing therefore does not involve danger, but amounts to a quantum leap in terms of IT security and data storage in accordance with legal requirements."
Cloud computing must strengthen its image as a product
From the provider viewpoint, however, Felix Höger derives new tasks from the results of the survey: "The services of cloud computing are still not tangible enough for many companies. Consequently cloud computing must strengthen its image as a product. This applies just as much to communication as to the product design itself, for example through self-service portals and automated reporting."
