It has become an article of faith that we are online more than ever, and this trend has accelerated in the time since COVID-19 first struck. Data from the Central Statistics Office found that Irish people are now connected in greater numbers and spending longer most days online. But what about Irish businesses and public sector agencies? Have they embraced the cloud as enthusiastically – and are they seeing the benefits of doing so? Is cloud delivering game-changing transformation, or is there the potential to do more?

Delivering you insights from 101 C-Level executives

The above are some of the questions we aim to answer in an exclusive new survey of organisations based in Ireland, to take the pulse of cloud adoption among private and public sector groups. In the coming weeks, we will publish a full report presenting topline data from the survey, together with analysis from cloud experts at Deloitte who will interpret the findings and draw conclusions from them.

Deloitte and its research partner surveyed 101 C-level executives from organisations based in Ireland, so readers will be able to use the report to benchmark their own progress on cloud against a solid sample set of organisations.

What cloud insights will our survey reveal for Irish business leaders?

Some of the findings will reflect the lived reality for organisations over the past year. Last May, the ransomware attack on the Health Service Executive became headline news, and as a result, it pushed cybersecurity high onto the priority list for many Irish businesses. Our survey data will reveal what role cybersecurity plays in Irish organisations’ adoption of the cloud.

Sustainability is another strong theme in the report, fresh on organisations’ agendas as ESG concerns come to the fore in boardrooms across the world, and with memories of November’s COP26 Climate Agreement still fresh.

Our survey uncovers whether Irish public and private organisations are using cloud transformation to operate more sustainably. We’re seeing in the market that it’s possible to make substantial savings on sustainability through cloud, with newer data centres offering in the range of 70%-80% improved energy consumption when compared with traditional data centres. But are Irish organisations realising those benefits?

This report will reveal where Irish organisations are seeing cloud’s value: is it in cost savings, operational readiness, sustainability, or some combination of these factors? It will uncover which technologies are the most critical and strategic priorities for organisations’ cloud transformation plans. How many organisations still describe themselves as “experimenting” with the technology, and how many have moved to the “scaling” stage of implementation? What proportion of technology budgets will be spent on cloud-related infrastructure or applications in the coming 12 months? Has cloud met or exceeded the expected benefits? And in what areas has it done so: has it improved scalability, increased security, or delivered the ability to disrupt markets?

We also wanted to uncover where the challenges lie in further adoption of cloud. The report will identify what barriers stand in the way of increased adoption of cloud services, such as data sovereignty concerns; compliance or regulatory requirements; difficulty in controlling cloud spend; length of time to realise value; organisational resistance to change; lack of executive support; implementation costs; complex migration issues.

Providing you with credible data for your future facing business cases and critical decision making

Our data’s weight and credibility comes from the senior roles our respondents occupy in their organisations. They include Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Officer, IT Director, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Transformation Officer, and Chief Digital Officer.

They represent a broad sweep of public and private sector organisations, covering industries as diverse as architecture and engineering, arts and culture, education, energy and resources, financial services, healthcare and life sciences, IT and telecoms, legal, manufacturing and utilities, professional services, sales, media and marketing.

Together with the data that will let readers evaluate where they sit on the spectrum of cloud adoption, our analysis will pose some provocative questions for leaders: are you amplifying the value of cloud to transform your organisations? Are you unlocking the sustainability benefits of cloud adoption? Are security concerns holding back your cloud adoption?

Launching soon: Our cloud survey report will launch at the end of March. Follow our LinkedIn page for the latest updates and check back on this page for links to the report which will be uploaded in due course.