The results of a cloud computing survey conducted by North Bridge Venture Partners, in partnership with GigaOM Pro and The 451 Group, were released today at the GigaOM Structure Conference during the Cloud Leadership Panel. CloudTimes is a media sponsor of the GigaOM Structure conference in San Francisco, CA.

The survey captured current perceptions, sentiments and future expectations of cloud computing from 413 respondents which included industry experts, users and vendors of cloud software, support and services. The survey found that agility and innovation in delivering new applications are emerging as the primary motivators and complement cloud’s scalability and cost benefits.

Details of the survey results are included in GigaOM Pro’s new report, A Field Guide to Cloud Computing, which was also announced today.

A preview of key findings from the survey:

• Cloud computing is clearly still in its infancy as 40% of respondents indicated that they are only now experimenting with a move to the cloud while another 26% of responders are awaiting  market maturity before adopting a formal cloud strategy.  On average, the respondents have been using cloud based solutions for 20 months.
• Today, scalability and cost are seen as the primary drivers for cloud usage, while agility and innovation are quickly emerging as a key factor for adoption, as IT organizations view cloud computing as an effective means to implementing new applications quickly to keep pace with application backlogs and business demands.
• Factors cited as longer term (up to five years) drivers for cloud adoption included maintaining competitive differentiation, mobility, and ensuring application interoperability through the use of open cloud APIs.
• While security and compliance remain the top inhibitors with 31% citing these as key obstacles to cloud adoption, interoperability and vendor lock-in remain real threats with 25% of respondents identifying these as roadblocks to cloud usage.
• The majority of respondents, 55%, believe that cloud computing has a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).
• Respondents were equally split on the impact of cloud computing on IT manageability with an equal number, 39%, indicating that the cloud would make for less and more complex environments.
• 74% of respondents indicated that cloud computing would either lead to an increase in hiring or have no impact, while only 26% of respondents expected any decrease in hiring based on cloud adoption.

For more information about this survey visit: http://www.nbvp.com/north-bridge-gigaom-and-451-group-launch-future-cloud-computing-survey