Cloud-based apps are a reality in the enterprise, with nearly 90 per cent of today’s organizations using them, according to cloud-based application usage research commissioned by Centrix Software and conducted by Vanson Bourne.

However, the independent survey of 125 UK-based IT directors and CIOs, across a number of commercial industry sectors and the public sector also shows there is still much confusion around how the move to the cloud should be prioritized, which app types are most suitable, who pays for cloud apps, and what the top risks are.

The research highlights that responsibility for selecting, purchasing and managing cloud-based apps is increasingly shared between IT and business users — completely changing the way end-user computing is delivered. Business users are now involved in 53 percent of cloud app decisions (17 percent are solely responsible for app decisions and 36 percent share responsibility with IT) — and hold direct responsibility for 33 percent of the budget, with a further 27 percent managed jointly with IT.

Other key findings include:

■ Cloud usage is growing - over three quarters (78 percent) of organizations have a proactive plan for cloud adoption in 2015.

■ Office productivity is the top cloud app category in use across all types of organizations, whereas newer app categories are not widely adopted in the cloud (for example, only 2 percent ranked marketing automation as their top solution and 6 percent put it in their top three)

■ Shadow IT was another worry, with 53 percent of CIOs ranking this in their top three concerns

■ The financial services and government sectors are the furthest behind in cloud app adoption, with 20 percent of CIOs saying they had no cloud-based app usage (and, 24 per cent of financial services CIOs not planning to focus on cloud apps at all in 2015)

Commenting on the results, Lisa Hammond, CEO of Centrix Software said, “Today’s business users, familiar with choosing, downloading and using apps on their personal devices, can be just as cloud-aware as their more technical colleagues. This is driving a radical change in the way that end-user computing is delivered. The challenge for CIOs is how to manage a cloud environment that’s not in their control and that they regard as a huge security risk.”

Lisa continued, “Today’s IT leaders need to monitor, analyze, prioritize and evaluate rates of cloud app adoption so they can understand cloud app usage and consumption. It’s only those who have accurate information about cloud usage who will be able to spot cloud app trends, proactively forecast demand and identify the business value of migrating apps to the cloud or introducing new types of cloud apps. Usage-based business intelligence analytics for IT has to be part of the solution to this cloud confusion.”

Dan Kirtley is Product Marketing Manager at Centrix Software.