Many cloud myths will be debunked in 2015 by this fast-paced industry, says Piers Linney

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Many cloud myths will be debunked in 2015 by this fast-paced industry, says Piers Linney.

Following Gartner's publication of its top 10 cloud myths, Co-CEO of Outsourcery Piers Linney says that many of them will be demystified over the coming 12 months. 'Myths' Gartner identified included the need for "one cloud strategy or vendor", cloud being "less secure than on-premises capabilities" and that "cloud is not for mission-critical use".

Piers explains: "When cloud was a new concept in the industry, end-users had hundreds of questions. With time, real-life use and cloud education, businesses are now far more clued up and world has a much better understanding of cloud computing. Gartner calls them myths for a reason – many previously-held preconceived notions about cloud, are simply not true."

Gartner highlighted that some in the industry still believe that cloud is less secure than on-premises capabilities. However, adoption rates have continued to increase (The Cloud Industry Forum reports that 78 per cent of organisations use cloud to some extent) and familiarity has allowed end-users to understand that while the security risks are different from the more traditional on-premises approach to ICT, they do not pose a higher threat.

Piers continues: "Gartner highlights that many still believe that cloud is not for mission-critical use. For Microsoft, cloud has provided a big area of growth, with many end-users moving to this model and this illustrates that confidence in cloud is growing. Furthermore, many cloud providers have strengthened their offering in response to the need to meet demand. At Outsourcery, we have developed and invested heavily in our O-Cloud platform, which has just gained OFFICIAL PGA accreditation. This shows it meets standards which are officially recognised as secure and reliable enough for central and local government, providing a secure option for mission-critical use. We believe that with developments like this, the perception of cloud being "not as secure as on-premises" will shift dramatically in this year. So 2015 should see the debunking of more than just a few said 'cloud myths'," Piers concludes.