Only 15% of UK organisations are using document management in the cloud, despite 95% believing it can deliver business benefits, according to a new survey by global business automation software provider V1. The survey was carried out among senior IT and finance professionals from 79 organisations across the public, private and third sectors.
Cost-effectiveness was highlighted as the main benefit, with 28% of responses stating this would be the prime advantage of using the technology. Providing 24/7 access to documents was also identified as being key, with 26% of responses admitting this, and 17% said providing greater support for remote working would be the primary driver.
Although only 15% of the survey’s respondents revealed that they are using document management in the cloud, almost two thirds (62%) highlighted that they would consider accessing and sharing documents in this way in the future.
Janette Martin, Managing Director of V1, says: “The rewards of using cloud-based document management technology are evidently clear to organisations which recognise the flexibility and cost savings it can bring. However, what is also apparent is that despite recognising these benefits, many organisations are not taking advantage of them.”
This survey also revealed a 10% increase in companies using document management in the cloud, compared to the same questionnaire conducted by V1 in 2012.
Martin adds: “The number of businesses utilising document management in the cloud is rising as more recognise the increased agility it can bring them while putting security fears aside. As well as being cost-effective, it also supports remote working with access to documents from anywhere at any time – a must in today’s workplace.”
According to research by Right Scale in 2014, there has been a reduction in the number of organisations citing security as the main challenge to adopting cloud technology. Their research, conducted among 1,068 technical professionals across a range of sectors, showed that in 2014, 31% of ‘cloud beginner’ organisations – those working on initial cloud projects – cited security as a challenge, compared to 38% in 2013. For ‘cloud focussed’ organisations, those heavily using a cloud infrastructure, the numbers reduced from 18% in 2013 to 13% in 2014.
