Software-as-a-Service Rules the Cloud

The majority of respondents in a new survey on cloud adoption say they use software-as-a-service (SaaS). Eight in 10 (80%) IT professionals at organizations that employ cloud computing have implemented SaaS.

That's according to "State of the Cloud: A Security Perspective," a report from Dark Reading released in March. The research surveyed decision-makers with IT job titles at organizations that use cloud services. Those organizations include companies of all sizes from a variety of industries, including technology, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and education.

The overall picture from the survey is one of a robust remote workforce environment. While SaaS was by far the most widely embraced cloud application, almost half of respondents also reported using infrastructure-as-a-service (49%) and platform-as-a-service (47%). Other everyday work solutions were rarer, including desktop-as-a-service (19%) and containers-as-a-service (14%).

One of the obstacles to implementing cloud computing more widely is concerns about security, the main focus of this report. Many respondents say they already use cloud tools to secure their data and networks. One-quarter (25%) of respondents use disaster-recovery-as-a-service to help bounce back from cyberattacks and natural disasters. Almost one in five (18%) implement security-as-a-service. Only 10% of cloud users run secure access service edge (SASE) defense, however, which means that area is still wide open for competition.

For more data and insights, download the full report.