More Small Businesses Make the Move to Cloud Services

Small businesses are increasingly paying for cloud service programs over traditional software to run their business, according to a survey released Friday by Microsoft. The company surveyed 3,258 small and midsize business owners from 16 countries around the globe for its SMB Cloud Adoption Study 2011, to gain insight about how cloud computing will have an impact over the next three years.

The survey found that 39 percent of businesses expect to be paying for one or more cloud services within three years, up from the current 29 percent. Additionally, the number of cloud services that they pay for will double in most countries, and businesses will be using approximately 3.3. paid cloud services, up from fewer than 2 services today. Adoption rate will be slightly higher among larger businesses -- 56 percent of companies with 51 to 250 employees will pay for an average of 3.7 services within three years, the survey found.

When asked about service providers for operating in the cloud, small businesses reported that a positive service experience from a service provider was the key factor in selection, and 82 percent of respondents said buying cloud services from a provider with local presence was important. However, as more companies transition to the cloud, the research shows that growth will mostly be gradual in the next few years. For example, while 43 percent of workloads will become paid cloud services in the next three years, 28 percent will remain on-premises, and 29 percent will be free or bundled with other services.