Most Canadian SMBs aren’t using the cloud and a surprisingly high number of small businesses still aren’t investing in data security, a new study finds.
Only 14 per cent of SMBs are hosting their data in thecloud, accordingto a Primus Business Services survey of 453 small business owners andIT decision makers atCanadian firms with less than 500 employees.
Although half of companies surveyed are concerned about the security ofdata hosted in the cloud, 74 per cent of those expressingconcerns haveno secure off-site storage for their critical business data and 72 percent don’t monitor or manage their data on a 24/7 basis.
Investment in data security is also a low priority, with 60 per cent ofSMBs surveyed saying they spend less than 10 per cent of their budgetson it. Two-thirds of SMBs say they have not worked with an IT securityfirm toaudit their data security practices.
Cloud ‘still an enigma’
Although SMBs are hesitant to adopt the cloud dueto security concerns, in time they’ll realize the cloud is apotentiallymore secure data storage option thantraditional on-site methods, saidMatt Stein, senior vice-president of network, technology and planningat Primus Canada in a news release on the study.
“Cloud computing is still a relative enigma but its inherent security,cost and most importantly, time management benefits, will imminentlybring it into the mainstream of Canadian business,” Stein said in therelease.
The figures in the Primus study mesh with data from ITBusiness.ca’s2011 State of the SMB Survey. Itfound that 56 per cent of respondentshad used no cloud technology within the preceding year and 35 per centcited security concerns as the main reason.
