NZ most cloud savvy in APAC, says Microsoft

43 percent of companies surveyed say they have a good understanding of cloud computing solutions

By Reseller News Staff, Auckland | Wednesday, 09 March 2011
A research commissioned by Microsoft has named New Zealand the most cloud savvy country in the Asia Pacific region.

According to Microsoft, 43 percent of respondents said they had a good understanding of cloud computing solutions, giving New Zealand an average score 3.3. out of 5, over one point higher than Thailand, Korea and Malaysia, with 2.6, 2.7 and 3.0, respectively.

The research further states that 81 percent of New Zealand companies view cloud computing as a priority for IT and have funding in place to implement this. This statistic rises to 94 percent in larger organizations.

“The value of cloud computing is in its delivery as a service,” says Errol Rasit, principal analyst for Gartner and keynote speaker at the Microsoft Cloud Summit, which took place in Auckland last month. “An organisations’ depth and breadth of IT skills will determine what cloud solutions will be chosen, and vendors need to disconnect price from cost, and reconnect price to value.”

For Colin Timm, managing director, Public Sector, Microsoft Asia Pacific, there is a danger of companies lagging behind, with technology moving at such a fast pace. “The current market shows technology being taken up at a quicker rate than ever before and there is a lot of buzz around cloud computing. The decision making cycles are getting faster and faster, and it is a case of keep up or get left behind.”