Survey: Reliability is Most Important When Choosing Cloud Provider

Reliability, more than cost, is most important to healthcare organizations when choosing a cloud provider, according to a new survey from the Vernon Hills, Ill.-based vendor CDW.

The new “Cloud 401 Report” surveyed IT decision makers familiar with their organization’s cloud implementations and found that customers overwhelmingly identified reliability as the most important attribute in a cloud vendor.  Included in the respondents were healthcare organizations made up of hospitals/medical centers (75 percent), ambulatory/doctors’ offices (13 percent), and long-term care organizations (12 percent).

When asked what the most important attributes of a public or hybrid cloud provider were, nearly 41 percent of the healthcare organization respondents said reliability, more than cost stability (25 percent) or lowest cost (25 percent). An additional 31 percent said  the ability to integrate with existing infrastructure ranks most important, while 27 percent cited support for IT during implementation.  Respondents were able to choose more than one attribute.

When asked about the single largest source of problems for their current cloud services, 29 percent said security; 17 percent cost; 15 percent said integration; and 14 percent said usability. Overall, on average, 35 percent of organizations’ IT services are delivered either totally or partially via any form of cloud computing.