Accountancy firms are much slower to roll out cloud computing than other corporate sectors, according to a new study by Thomson Reuters.

Just three out of ten accountancy companies will be implementing cloud computing by the end of 2013, while other areas will be using it much more, with seven out of ten businesses in the UK integrating some form of virtualisation.

However, the IT in Practice Survey - which questioned 1,300 accountancy organisations - found several companies in the accountancy sector are on the road to introducing one.

Some 11 per cent of respondents claimed they are planning to use virtualisation technology in their practices, while around 23 per cent said they expect cloud computing to host all, or at least some, of their workloads in the next year.

However, many people in this particular sector are wary about adopting cloud technology a cloud as they do not see the need for it.

A possible reason for this could be security as these companies will naturally have more sensitive financial information and losing any of it in a security breach could be disastrous. 

For this reason, firms dealing with cloud computing systems need to employ people in IT security jobs to ensure all data is kept safe.

While 22 per cent of respondents were unable to quantify the benefits of cloud computing, those that could cited enhanced flexibility as the number one advantage. 

By having a virtualised environment for data, employees can access information from home or on the go and this can be enhanced further by having staff use their own devices for work.

Improved upgrade integration and support was the second biggest benefit, while IT cost savings closely followed in third. Unsurprisingly, 36 per cent said the ability to save money would be a big influence in their decision to adopt it.

However, 44 per cent of people claimed they were worried about the availability and reliability of the service while 34 per cent claimed broadband speeds are too slow in their part of the country.

Posted by Paul Jones

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