LONDON, Sept. 13, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Research released today by Compuware Corporation (Nasdaq:CPWR) has revealed that large European organisations lose €608,000 every year due to performance-related problems with cloud-based applications, such as e-commerce sites and Internet-based business applications. Furthermore, the survey of 300 European IT directors revealed that 57 percent of businesses are slowing down or stopping adoption of further cloud applications until they can solve these applications performance issues.
Richard Stone, cloud computing solutions manager at Compuware explained: "So far businesses have largely invested in cloud applications, such as e-commerce sites and online collaboration tools without really thinking about the hidden business risks that result from poor performance. Although organisations understand the flexibility and cost benefits of the cloud model, this research indicated that further adoption will be severely hampered unless cloud performance management is tackled. The only way that organisations can successfully re-connect with customers, increase confidence and increase revenue is by updating their approach to application performance management to cope with today's IT environments."
The research also found that 72 percent of businesses admitted that their ability to guarantee service levels is severely restricted because cloud applications, by their very nature are delivered over an open network -- the Internet. Historically, organisations have structured their application performance management strategies around internal infrastructures where they have complete control. However, as the nature of business applications continues to undergo extensive changes, moving from inside the borders of the business to a "borderless" environment outside of their firewall, the approach used to manage them must also become borderless.
The research did indicate that most organisations understood this. 84 percent of those questioned stated that they would expect more rigorous SLAs that go beyond simple availability metrics if they increase their use of business-critical cloud applications. In fact, to increase the level of adoption, those surveyed demanded SLAs based on end-user experience. The key question is no longer "Is it available?" but rather, "Is it fast enough?" 67 percent of IT directors also stated that their IT teams had the skills needed to negotiate the more complex SLAs needed for cloud services.
"This research shows us that cloud adoption is being hampered by concerns around application performance. However, there are signs this can be overcome," added Stone. "Firstly, those surveyed know that, in order to get the most from cloud applications, an end-user view is needed. They have also indicated that their IT teams have the skills needed to negotiate the more end-user oriented SLAs needed for cloud services. Security concerns are obviously still important but it's clear that performance is now becoming the 'day in, day out' business inhibitor that has to be solved. The good thing is people are aware of the issue and understand that the end-user experience can't be compromised."
The survey consisted of 300 European IT directors in large enterprise organisations with over 1,000 employees. It was commissioned by Compuware and conducted by independent research company Vanson Bourne.
Compuware Corporation
Founded in 1973, Compuware provides software, experts and best practices to ensure applications work well and deliver business value. Compuware solutions optimize end-to-end application performance for leading organizations around the world, including 46 of the top 50 Fortune 500 companies and 12 of the top 20 most visited U.S. web sites. Learn more at: .
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