Businesses can't get all they want from one cloud provider - Adapt

"UK businesses are clearly beginning to feel that working with one cloud provider isn't enough," Adapt's Kevin Linsell tells Computing

More than half of UK businesses that have adopted cloud computing as part of their IT infrastructure believe they can't get everything they want from a single solutions provider.

That's according to research conducted by EasyInsites on behalf of managed services provider Adapt, released ahead of Cloud Expo Europe. Of those businesses surveyed, 53 per cent don't believe that a single cloud provider is capable of meeting all of their requirements.

As a result, nearly half of organisations are planning to make changes to their cloud infrastructure to accommodate their plans for the next 12 months, although just a quarter feel that cloud providers really understand their businesses.

Kevin Linsell, head of service development at Adapt, told Computing that more businesses are getting concerned about their cloud providers as they become more familiar with the technology.

"UK businesses are clearly beginning to feel that working with one cloud provider isn't enough," he said.

"This is part of the market's natural progression as businesses that are familiar with the cloud's capabilities are now looking at how they can really leverage the cloud for maximum business benefit."

Sometimes that will involve using one platform for mission-critical applications and another for less critical applications in order to ensure efficiency - it's rare to be able to do this through one provider.

Linsell argued that as organisations mature in their use of cloud-based IT infrastructure, they'll be looking to purchase solutions from a variety of providers, each of whom can help the business in different, but specific, ways.

"Looking ahead, the opportunity to integrate and manage multiple cloud services as a unified way to meet precise business needs looks likely to prove fruitful for the service provider community," he said.

"It's not just about providing one platform for customers, it's about choice and effective management for the best possible business results," Linsell concluded.

Recent Computing research revealed that less than half of senior IT professionals at SMEs feel that cloud computing could be beneficial to their business.