Running Business in the Cloud IT professionals work to provide their colleagues with the tools and services they need, but they’re also tightly focused on keeping costs down. Cloud-based software delivery is becoming the standard for reaching both goals. Roughly three-quarters of the IT professionals surveyed said they’re using some type of cloud or hosted service. The most common cloud services include Web hosting (75%), productivity solutions (55%), email hosting (54%) and content filtering (45%). In addition to simplifying IT management, IT professionals mentioned the need to increase availability (51%) and reduce both IT complexity and costs (45% and 44%). These expectations appear to track with experience: As a result of using a cloud approach, nearly 80% said they’re saving money and seeing more productivity and better security. More specifically, they reported saving 20% on average, as a result of moving hosting services and productivity apps to the cloud. 74% of respondents report their organisations use some type of cloud/hosted service. The Small Business Cloud Outlook - Running Business in the Cloud 5