Cloud adoption, awareness and understanding has accelerated sharply among Japanese organizations during the last 12 months, finds the latest “Cloud Computing in Japan 2010 - User Adoption Trends” report from Springboard Research. Springboard Research revealed that the current Cloud adoption rate in Japan is 13% and the average understanding level of Japanese respondents was the highest in Asia at 6.9 (based on a 10-point scale with 10 being highest), versus an average rating of 5.6 across Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ).
Large Organizations are Aggressive Adopters
The report found that Cloud adoption varies widely by organization size. Organizations with 10,000 or more employees are the most aggressive adopters with a Cloud adoption rate of 36%, which is nearly triple the average overall adoption rate of 13%.
Among the vertical industries, telecom, IT, finance, and government sectors are most bullish in terms of Cloud adoption.
“Cloud adoption and awareness have increased rapidly across Japan, with particularly strong growth among larger organizations”, says Masami Kashiwagi, research manager, Japan at Springboard Research. “Nonetheless, security remains a primary Cloud-related concern across Japan, outweighing concerns over data privacy, residency or loss of control as well as integration.”
Cost Reduction is the Primary Benefit of Cloud Adoption
The Springboard Research report found that organizations in Japan perceive Cloud as particularly relevant for reducing costs. Almost half of the respondents (47%) cited reduction in hardware infrastructure costs as the top benefit of Cloud Computing while IT staff/administrative cost reductions and scalability were the second most popular benefits (both cited 33% by respondents). Additionally, 42% of the respondents admitted that their attention towards cloud computing has increased because of the economy.
“Cost savings have been a convincing reason for early adopters to make investment decision on Cloud-related projects. However, strategic objectives should be increasingly considered, which should help in improving operational efficiency, competitiveness in the market, and ultimately the company’s sustainable value in the long term“, adds. Kashiwagi.
International Vendors Win Customer Mindshare
Among the vendors, Japanese respondents identified Google as the leader in terms of Cloud mindshare, followed by IBM and Microsoft whereas NEC, Fujitsu and NTT Data dominate the local Japanese vendor landscape. Springboard also notes that the vendor landscape in terms of customer mindshare may dynamically change in the coming months.