Survey suggests two thirds planning cloud strategy

Those are among key findings from survey by IT services provider Axios Systems. Other interesting figures include that only 8% of firms currently use their ITSM tools to manage cloud-based services, and that just 19% believe their current tools could support management of cloud services. Just under one-third (31%) of Axios' respondents indicate that their current ITSM tool would not support management of cloud-based services, with 42% unsure. Meanwhile, more than a quarter (28%) indicate that their organisations have already adopted a cloud strategy in one or more areas, with a further 5% having plans to implement cloud services in the next three months. Another 16% also have short-term plans to adopt cloud strategies in three-to-six months, with an additional 20% planning to roll out cloud services in six months or beyond. Only 32% of Axios' survey respondents expressed no current plans to adopt a cloud strategy. Markos Symeonides, executive vice president at Axios Systems, suggests that ITSM and ITIL must play critical roles in managing cloud services. "Many organisations we work with understand IT service supply chains and the need to fully view how their business services are constructed," he explains. "[They] must get an end-to-end view for all services, including cloud-based ones," he continues. "ITSM tools like assystSaaS for ITSM and Service Catalog, allow organisations to manage all aspects of IT service provision, including supplier and contract management for cloud computing vendors, as well as the traditional ITIL processes like Incident, Problem, Change, Release, Asset and Service Level Management."