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The majority (63 percent) of enterprises prefer private cloud storage solutions over public offerings such as Dropbox, according to a survey of 200 IT professionals conducted in early 2014 by independent panel research firm Research Now and sponsored by CTERA Networks.
The report, which examines the state of cloud storage usage in the enterprise and the measures being taken by IT departments to improve the security of cloud storage offerings in their organizations, indicated organizations are racing to establish contemporary cloud storage solutions they can control.
To prevent data leakage, 55 percent of organizations with 30,000 employees or more expressly forbid the usage of software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based file-sharing solutions.
The survey also revealed SaaS-based cloud storage offerings are creating organizational havoc.
“Enterprises are seeking ways to capitalize on the benefits that cloud storage can provide, but not at the cost of losing control of their data. The market is flooded with SaaS offerings, but solutions that can scale on private and hybrid clouds are in short supply,” Rani Osnat, vice president of strategic marketing and customer experience at CTERA, said in a statement.
Thirty-one percent of respondents indicated they have experienced corporate data leakage in 2013 as a result of employees sharing files via often-unsanctioned file sync and share (FSS) services.
Additionally, 71 percent of survey respondents said they are concerned or extremely concerned about data breaches.
Security concerns are the overall reason enterprises pursue enterprise file sync and share (EFSS), as 31 percent have experienced corporate data leakage in 2013 as a result of employees sharing files through often-unsanctioned FSS services.
Meanwhile, one-quarter of organizations said they have already implemented private cloud file sync-and-share tools, while 20 percent of organizations have implemented cloud-storage gateways.
The survey also found 45 percent of organizations are considering private cloud file sync-and-share tools, while 38 percent of organizations are considering implementing cloud-storage gateways.
“This independent research validates what we have been hearing from our customers: a clear preference for a platform they can manage and run using the infrastructure of their choice, with both enterprise-grade security and compelling end-user experience,” Osnat said.
Of organizations that have implemented or are considering FSS offerings, 63 percent indicated they favor a private cloud storage solution run either on hosted (virtual private) infrastructure or in their own data center, with larger enterprises of 10,000 employees or more stating a preference for a completely private cloud.
The survey also indicated that as EFSS is replacing and augmenting legacy files sharing for individual employees, cloud-storage gateways are replacing and augmenting traditional file servers in remote or branch offices (ROBO).
One-third of all organizations with more than 50 ROBOs have implemented on-premises cloud-storage gateways that support both the private cloud and public cloud, and 20 percent of all companies have implemented them, according to the report.