Widespread adoption of cloud computing could be under threat because organizations simply don't have the resource to get it off the ground, according to research by UC4, the world's largest, independent IT automation software company. High maintenance costs and the increasing percentage of time that goes into administration around existing systems were cited as the biggest challenges to overcome, in the survey of IT decision-makers across a range of UK organizations carried out by Vanson Bourne.

Nearly two thirds of respondents stated that the volume of admin tasks was significantly reducing their effectiveness and 60 percent said it was reducing their capacity to work on new initiatives. The figures showed that compared to a year ago, the number of IT decision-makers concerned about the impact of IT administration on a department's ability to support the business effectively, has risen by 10 percent.

"It is clear from the results that IT staff are not reaping the benefits from moving to the cloud," said Randy Clark, CMO at UC4 Software. "The IT department is under pressure to show it is being as efficient as possible and ‘driving innovation,' yet it is faced with a bigger admin burden than ever. This in turn is making teams less efficient by focusing too much of their time on mundane admin jobs that are not bringing value to the business." 

Clark continues: "As cloud services offer so much potential for businesses to be more flexible and dynamic, IT staff are becoming frustrated having to deal with an abundance of siloed systems, which is stifling their creativity and effectiveness. This could stall the adoption of more cloud services in the future if the IT department views it as too much of a headache." 

Just under half (47 percent) of those surveyed found it difficult integrating disparate systems and getting the information they need and over one third (38 percent) see automation and orchestration as a relevant part of their cloud strategy, with the financial services sector finding it most relevant (44 percent), followed by manufacturing (40 percent) and lastly retail, distribution and transport (32 percent).  Respondents were also asked what they think are the key benefits of IT automation for their business, with the most popular answers believing it can bring increased efficiency (38 percent), followed by those thinking it reduced time spent on administrative tasks (27 percent).

"In terms of trying to solve the issues of administration and managing hybrid environments this is where there seems to be a lack of understanding," says Clark.  "More than half of respondents (54 percent) see the importance of automation in managing hybrid environments, yet one third (33 percent) admit to having a lack of expertise in understanding the benefits of IT automation."