CIOs View Cloud As An Option For Projects, But Not As A First Priority

According to Gartner, almost half of those surveyed view the cloud as a viable option for IT projects, as opposed to merely a concept. This means infrastructure and operations leaders should begin strategizing to consider systems that are cloud-based.

"[Infrastructure and operations] leaders have been more protective of their existing infrastructure and, in many cases, have been the biggest obstacle to cloud-based solutions, often resorting to cloud washing as an excuse to not seriously pursue a true cloud-based solution," said Dave Russell, vice president at Gartner. "Instead, I&O leaders should institute a 'cloud-first' consideration for every project on an application-by-application basis."

Also according to the survey, 9 percent of users are not considering cloud computing for projects related to Software as a Service, while 15 percent are not considering a cloud platform for Infrastructure as a Service projects.