As the use of cloud computing continues to grow, businesses that have adopted and stuck with the technology are now reporting to see the benefits.

According to a study by IBM, companies that are taking advantage of cloud computing are reporting a massive monetary reward of almost double revenue and profit growth. Using cloud to manage big data analytics, collaboration and customer relationship management are believed to be the key to this success.

The global study formed from of over 800 enterprise IT decision-makers, reports that one in five organisations is embracing cloud technology and achieving competitive advantage as well as major improvements in organisational efficiency as a result. Responding to changing customer needs and market shifts, expanding into new markets and targeting new segments, are some of the recognised improvements from over 40% of respondents.

Insight into business performance via cloud reporting tools is causing owners to reassess their business model. Apparently the wealth of data on hand and applications open to users means businesses can easily create new revenue streams, new value propositions and even brand new markets.

According to Computer Weekly, IBM has invested more than $6bn in more than a dozen acquisitions since 2007 to accelerate its cloud initiatives, including acquiring cloud provider SoftLayer Technologies for $2bn earlier this year.

Jim Comfort, general manager for cloud development and delivery at IBM, told Computer Weekly that cloud is a big part of its business, “The traditional model of IT delivery had run its course and we had to make the transition quickly and that was the most challenging aspect. We have now moved from a product-first to a cloud-first and services-first mentality.”

According to Gartner by 2016 cloud investments will become the bulk of new IT spend and the study reports that cloud’s strategic importance to decision-makers, such as CEOs, CMOs, finance, HR and procurement executives, is set to double from 34% to 72%, beating their IT executive counterparts at 58%. Most are using cloud to integrate and apply mobile, social, analytics and big data technologies.

“Overall, there are very real trends toward cloud platforms, and also toward massively scalable processing. Virtualization, service orientation and the Internet have converged to sponsor a phenomenon that enables individuals and businesses to choose how they’ll acquire or deliver IT services, with reduced emphasis on the constraints of traditional software and hardware licensing models,” said Chris Howard, research vice president at Gartner. “Services delivered through the cloud will foster an economy based on delivery and consumption of everything from storage to computation to video to finance deduction management.”

Source: http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240207782/Firms-using-cloud-for-competitive-advantage-double-profits-claims-IBM-study