Spiceworks†announced the results of a new survey examining the adoption and perceptions of cloud storage and file sharing services in businesses across†North America†and Europe. The†results show†Microsoft OneDrive is the most commonly used service, followed by Google Drive and Dropbox, among others. The findings indicate that although adoption of cloud storage services has grown rapidly, a quarter of business technology buyers are still concerned about hosting company data in the cloud, and therefore are prioritizing security when evaluating providers.
The results show 80 percent of organizations are using cloud storage services, and an additional 16 percent plan to deploy a solution within the next two years. Currently, 51 percent of organizations are using Microsoft OneDrive, 34 percent are using Google Drive, and 34 percent are using Dropbox. Additionally, 13 percent of businesses are currently using Apple iCloud, 6 percent are using Box, 6 percent are using Citrix ShareFile,†and 3 percent are using Amazon Drive.†
According to a similar†Spiceworks report†issued in†March 2016, 53 percent of organizations were using cloud storage and file sharing services. Among those organizations, 33 percent were using Dropbox, 31 percent were using Microsoft OneDrive, and 27 percent were using Google Drive. However, the 2016 report revealed OneDrive had the highest planned adoption rates and has since become the most commonly used cloud storage service in the workplace.
In fact, when examining current adoption rates by company size, the results show OneDrive has the highest usage in enterprises – defined as businesses with more than 1,000 employees – with an adoption rate of 59 percent, compared to Google Drive at 29 percent and Dropbox at 25 percent. Although OneDrive also claims the top spot in small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), the gap in adoption rates among the top players is much smaller. For example, among mid-size businesses with 100 to 999 employees, 54 percent are using OneDrive, 35 percent are using Dropbox, and 33 percent are using Google Drive. In small businesses with one to 99 employees, 47 percent are using OneDrive, compared to 39 percent using Google Drive and 34 percent using Dropbox.
Security is the most important factor when selecting†a cloud storage service
Among business technology buyers involved in the purchase decisions for cloud storage and file sharing services at their organization, security was considered the most important factor when evaluating providers. In fact, 97 percent said security is an important to extremely important factor, followed by reliability (96 percent), cost (93 percent), ease of use (93 percent), and vendor reputation (89 percent). Conversely, technology buyers believe factors such as document collaboration (67 percent) and app/tool integrations (59 percent) still matter but are less important.
When asked to select the top five attributes they associate with each provider, 39 percent of business technology buyers said they primarily associate OneDrive with being secure, compared to Google Drive at 28 percent and Dropbox at 19 percent. Google Drive ranks the highest in terms of reliability and cost-effectiveness, while Dropbox ranks the highest when it comes to ease of use. Additionally, Microsoft OneDrive was recognized as a trusted vendor and for being integrated with existing apps/tools.
One in four organizations aren’t confident in the security of data stored in the cloud
Despite the pervasiveness of cloud storage and file sharing services, some organizations still aren’t confident in the security of their data stored within those services. In fact, 25 percent of technology buyers believe their data in the cloud is “not at all” to “somewhat” secure. This is perhaps because 16 percent of organizations have experienced one or more security incidents, such as unauthorized access, stolen credentials, or data theft, via their cloud storage service in the last 12 months. ††
Therefore, organizations are taking extra steps to enhance their data security when using cloud storage and file-sharing services. Fifty-seven percent of organizations only allow employees to use cloud storage providers approved by their IT department, 55 percent enforce user access controls, and 48 percent train employees on how to use cloud storage services properly.
However, other security measures are less common, such as enforcing multi-factor authentication when using these services (28 percent), putting a cloud storage/file-sharing security policy in place (28 percent), and encrypting data in transit (26 percent) and at rest (22 percent) via their cloud storage service.
“It’s evident organizations are putting more trust into cloud storage services, but some are still hesitant despite the recent growth in adoption,” said†Peter Tsai, senior technology analyst at Spiceworks. “Although cloud storage services often include features that help secure sensitive corporate information, there will always be risks involved when entrusting your data to a third party.”
Methodology †
The Spiceworks survey was conducted in April 2018 and included 544 respondents from organizations across†North America†and†Europe. Respondents are among the millions of business technology professionals†in Spiceworks and represent a variety of company sizes, including small-to-medium-sized businesses and enterprises. Respondents come from a variety of industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, nonprofits, education, government, and finance.
