A new report by education platform Cloudstanding has revealed that workers in the United Kingdom frequently use accounts for cloud-based services in the workplace that are not managed by their employers. Cloudstanding, which was established in 2015, offers specialised services to companies, giving them access to a “highly selective network of partners they can trust to help them move to the cloud”. The company’s report was the result of research which polled more than 350 IT professionals and decision makers in the United Kingdom. Cloudstanding’s report suggests that as much of 70% of company employees in the United Kingdom access unauthorised cloud services when in the workplace. By doing this employs risk data leaks and data breaches. As a result, 45% of those polled suggested ‘Bring-Your-Own-Device’ (BYOD) is likely to be a key business requirement in the UK in 2016. According to the report, disaster recovery and big data analytics also promise to be key areas in 2016. The report went on to reveal a number of trends, including 37% of those polled expressing concern about the complex nature of cloud technology. However, 45% suggested that they had experienced significant growth as a result of cloud services deployment.
“Companies are in the dark when it comes to which cloud services are being used by their employees, how much sensitive corporate data is being uploaded and shared, and whom it is being shared with,” explained Cloudstanding’s co-founder, Maarten ten Broeke. “Cloud services enable productivity and efficiency for employees, but unless it is properly managed and secured by companies, there will always be the risk of data leaks and security threats entering the company from external sources.”
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