If any proof were still needed that enterprises, of all sizes, are migrating to the cloud, a recent survey by cloud security company Okta shows that companies are in fact enthusiastically embracing cloud computing. The results show that businesses are making aggressive efforts to enable their partners, customers and contractors through new cloud-based applications, websites, or portals.
Okta analysed data from 2,500 customers, running 4,000 applications and millions of daily authentications from 185 countries. It found that company size is no longer a strong indicator of how many cloud or mobile apps a company uses, with most businesses using between 11 and 16 off-the-shelf cloud apps, regardless of size.
Okta also used the data to determine the most popular cloud apps used at work. The following list shows the top 10 most popular apps currently used by enterprises of all sizes:
Microsoft Office 365
The cloud version of Microsoft’s suite of office apps, including email, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Salesforce
Perhaps the most famous suite of tools for sales and marketing workers for tracking customers, leads and contracts and creating marketing campaigns.
Box
A secure cloud storage, file sharing and collaboration tool.
Google Apps
Suite of office apps focused on collaboration, including email, a word app, spreadsheets, presentation software, storage, and so on.
SAP Concur
A travel and expenses report app.
Amazon Web Services
Hosts applications, from bespoke to off-the-shelf enterprise apps.
Zendesk
Customer and technical support.
Dropbox
A multi-device cloud storage, file sharing, syncing and collaboration app.
LinkedIn
The social network for professionals.
GoDaddy
Web hosting services and business apps, such as email marketing tools.
The growth of Microsoft Office 365 has mainly been driven by adoption from larger enterprises, and has for the first time overtaken the previous two years’ leader Salesforce.com.
Security issues are also evolving, according to the report. As new authentication options enter the market, companies are trading ‘classic’ sign-in options, such as mother’s maiden name, for more secure multi-factor authentication methods, such as push notifications for mobile phones.
The new cloud computing environment provides businesses of every shape and size with access to the same tools, services and apps as large enterprises. In turn, this allows greater flexibility, agility, scalability, mobility, and of course, cost and IT resource savings.
As an independent provider of IT Managed Services, Aztech can provide SMBs with a tailored cloud solution that is completely aligned to a company’s unique level of resources, expertise, budget and, most importantly, business needs and objectives. So get in touch with us today to discuss your specific cloud requirements.