FRAMINGHAM, Mass., July 10, 2017 – Newly released results from the industry-leading International Data Corporation (IDC) CloudView Survey 2017 reveal that the top drivers of cloud adoption include improving agility and security, as well as standardizing IT infrastructure.

As multi-cloud environments and hybrid cloud become more prevalent, the survey revealed that 87% of cloud users have adopted some capabilities for a hybrid cloud strategy, an increase of 17% compared to 2016.

"Beyond adoption and maturity, a series of questions on 'why are' or 'why aren't' respondents moving more workloads to the cloud makes up a key part of the study," said Ben jamin McGrath, senior research analyst, SaaS and Cloud Software.

Additional findings from the study include:

• 56% of users run more than one type of cloud deployment
• 40% of cloud users are "Cloud First" organizations

"When we look at the shift in IT spend over the next 12-24 months to more of a mix of multiple types of cloud deployments, we see each type of organization take a different journey," added McGrath. "The study gathers data on the journey to cloud and how it differs by vertical – and micro-vertical – by country, by company size, company age, and by job title. What industry-specific projects are moving to the cloud? What are end-users looking for from their vendors in each country? How will all that change over time?"

CloudView 2017 encompasses thousands of surveys from line-of-business cloud buyers and IT operations staff on cloud adoption rates, trends, and attitudes. Survey respondents are from more than 6,000 organizations worldwide, all of whom are current users of cloud services. To gain a complete picture of potential cloud customers along the journey, data is also collected from respondents at organizations who are not currently utilizing cloud.