In 2019 we asked our clients and other Czech companies whether and how they use cloud solutions. Do companies still perceive the cloud as a threat, or is cloud security an asset to them? How many companies are still running on bare-metal and how many are already in the cloud? Is the transition difficult? And which provider is the most popular Google, Amazon or Microsoft?
“The cloud is an obvious choice for most technology companies nowadays. They run their entire corporate IT infrastructure on it or at least a part of it. For some time now, however, it isn’t only the domain of progressive startups. Corporations that have delayed this step until recently for various reasons are starting to migrate to the cloud as well. This trend has been confirmed by our survey, which showed that more than half of companies are considering switching to the cloud at the moment. Every company today is dependent on technology and it’s a good sign that they are aware of the main benefits of the cloud. The flexibility, scalability, zero maintenance, zero downtime and ultimately cost savings, these are just the most commonly mentioned advantages of the cloud-native approach.”
Miroslav Vlasák - CEO, Revolgy
The cloud providers, most popular amongst Czech companies are Amazon Web Services (52.7%) ahead of the Google Cloud Platform (38.4%) and Microsoft Azure (29.5%)
Most companies (75.5%) had a cloud-based infrastructure right from the start. Others initially had their own data centre (41.8%), their own server hosting (34.2%) - i.e. were renting them, and servers housing (24.1%) - i.e. had their own servers placed in a professional data centre.
The main arguments why companies decided to move to the cloud were flexibility (77%) - the ability to easily create new environments and installations. The lack of need for hardware purchase and maintenance (65.2%) followed by scalability (57.1%) - i.e. the ability of the system, web server or application to scale up together with new features or changes. Other reasons mentioned were resistance to system outages (53.6%) and price (27.7%).
The companies we surveyed didn’t face any major problems with the transition to the cloud. On a scale of 1-10 (from the easiest to the most complicated), less than 5% of respondents rated implementation progress by 9 and 10. On the other hand, 17.9% of companies rated it 3 and lower, i.e. as a smooth run. In the majority of cases, they managed to undergo the transition using only internal resources and 34.8% sought help from a cloud partner. In other cases (10.7%), the provider helped with the implementation directly.
“Although more and more businesses are moving to the cloud, there are segments of the market where its implementation is slower. This can be said about banking institutions for example, which audit the security of data that are being stored and sent very carefully. Technology companies face the same problem. It should be noted here, that leading cloud providers such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft, invest huge amounts of resources into security and employ large teams of security experts on a scale that would be unaffordable for an average enterprise. Fortunately, banks have overcome the long-established idea that having data in the cloud, rather than in their own data centre, isn’t secure, ”
Miroslav Vlasák - CEO, Revolgy
The survey was conducted on a sample of 133 Czech technology companies, 10 of which were branches of a foreign company. Small and large firms were equally represented, with 18% being large firms (500 or more employees). Companies with 11–50 and 51–250 employees were majority with, almost one-third representation of each.
Take part in our 2020 survey! We’ll share the results with you.
Q1: According to the 2019 survey, which cloud provider was the most popular among Czech companies?
Amazon Web Services (AWS) was the most popular provider, used by 52.7% of companies. Google Cloud Platform (GCP) was second at 38.4%, and Microsoft Azure was third with 29.5%.
Q2: What were the primary reasons companies decided to move to the cloud?
The main reasons for moving to the cloud were flexibility (cited by 77% of companies), the lack of need for hardware purchase and maintenance (65.2%), and scalability (57.1%). Other mentioned reasons included resistance to system outages and price.
Q3: How difficult did the surveyed companies find the transition to the cloud?
The companies surveyed did not face major problems with the transition. On a scale of 1 to 10 (easiest to most complicated), 17.9% of companies rated the process as a smooth run (a score of 3 or lower), while less than 5% rated it as very complicated (a score of 9 or 10).
Q4: Did most companies manage their cloud migration internally or with external help?
The majority of companies managed the transition using only their internal resources. 34.8% sought help from a cloud partner, and in 10.7% of cases, the cloud provider assisted with the implementation directly.
Q5: What kind of infrastructure did most of the surveyed tech companies start with?
Most companies (75.5%) had a cloud-based infrastructure from the very beginning. For those that migrated later, their previous setups included their own data centers, rented server hosting, or placing their own servers in a professional data center (server housing).
Q6: How is the security of major cloud providers perceived compared to on-premise solutions?
Leading cloud providers like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft invest huge amounts of resources into security and employ large teams of experts, a scale that would be unaffordable for an average enterprise. As a result, even historically cautious institutions like banks have started to overcome the idea that data in the cloud is less secure than in their own data center.
Q7: What type of companies participated in the survey?
The survey was conducted on a sample of 133 Czech technology companies. Small and large firms were represented, with the majority of companies having between 11 and 250 employees. 18% of the participants were large firms with 500 or more employees.