Why Cloud Workers Better Position Companies for Times of Crisis

The fact that remote working is no longer a trend of the future, but part of our present, is now increasingly becoming the reality for many employees around the world. But what does this actually look like? A study conducted by Forrester Consulting, on behalf of Google, provides reliable data on the extent to which companies have introduced remote working and working with cloud technology, and how they are viewed internally.

Our main office is in Germany, a country that is very strict when it comes to privacy legislation. Here, people are more hesitant to move to the cloud. We'll take a look at what the situation is like given this. The results of the Forrester Consulting study will surprise you!

The survey polled 1,356 IT experts and 969 IT managers. From this group, 116 and 969 were respectively from Germany. The survey was conducted before the start of the COVID 19 pandemic, in January 2020.

Cloud technology: Germany plays a leading role

Now, it may come as a surprise to see a country in which internet data protection laws are very strict near the top of the list when it comes to companies who are active in the cloud. But the study by Forrester Consulting shows that Germany is by no means bringing up the rear in terms of development. The country is actually leading the way in several aspects of remote working compared to other countries. According to the study, even before the COVID 19 pandemic began, leading companies in Germany were already relying on cloud technologies to better manage crises - a smart move, which became clear over the course of the coming months. When companies had to switch overnight to remote working during the first lockdown, the cloud proved itself across the board:

"Today, investing in ways to work in the cloud is no longer a luxury, but a necessity to ensure excellence and resilience in disruptive environments." (Forrester Study, May 2020)

Another result of the Forrester study: Companies are increasingly aware of how important the user experience is when it comes to the success of remote working, and they're promoting support for cloud-based apps.

40 percent of IT Specialists in Germany work in the cloud

Remote work has not just become essential for business continuity, but also for team cohesion. Employees who work remotely are increasingly using cloud-based solutions for their daily tasks, as the results of the study show. According to the study, 40% of IT specialists in Germany can be described as cloud workers. This figure is higher than the global average of 37%. In an international comparison, Germany was already well on the way to becoming a cloud worker in 2020 (at the time of data collection).

But what are cloud workers and how are they defined in the context of the study? Cloud workers are employees who:

use a notebook or tablet for their work,

use cloud apps on a daily basis, and

spend at least 37.5% of their daily work time (about 3 out of 8 hours) on completing tasks through a web browser or by taking part in virtual meetings.

In their latest study, Forrester Consulting asked IT professionals in Germany how they use cloud technologies on an average working day. The result: employees spend about half of their time (49%) on a device with which they complete tasks via a web browser - and can therefore be identified as cloud workers.

The trend: cloud-native applications and end devices in German companies

Especially in Germany, IT Managers are interested in providing their colleagues with cloud-based applications that they want to use. Almost 8 out of 10 interviewees indicated that their companies were willing to expand the use of cloud-based applications for their employees in the next year (77%), which means they'd be well ahead of the rest of Europe (67%).

In addition, more and more cloud-native end devices are used in German companies. For example, more than half of the IT Managers in Germany (57%) said that their companies had either set up cloud-based computers for their teams or were planning to implement them in the next 12 months. A third (33%) of the IT specialists in Germany used cloud-native computers at the time of the survey. This puts Germany on par with other European countries.

Employees in focus: German companies promote cloud-based solutions to support their teams

Without a company's active support, IT professionals who work remotely wouldn’t be able to do their jobs. Their working conditions have to be adjusted to their needs continuously. This is the only way to guarantee long-term success for a company. German companies are increasingly aware of this connection, as the results of the study show: In it, the importance of cloud-based tools for time- and location-independent, agile working becomes clear.

"85% of German IT Managers place employee satisfaction as their top priority when making device and business application decisions." (Forrester Study, May 2020)

Most German IT specialists (77%) find it extremely important to have access to their company's data and software applications from any location and device, and 59% already use browser-based applications every day. This means that those who increasingly take into account the needs and preferences of IT professionals are investing in more future security because IT teams need secure access to their applications at all times.

"Companies that can support their employees - anywhere, anytime - are ideally positioned to provide business continuity while improving the employee experience."

German executives said that at the time of the survey, 60% of applications in their company were accessible via a browser. 84% said that their organizations were planning to provide cloud-based access to their applications by the end of 2021. Almost 8 out of 10 (77%) of the German IT managers are adopting a cloud-based architecture when implementing new technologies.

Companies are deciding in favor of the cloud to have room to move during a crisis

IT companies are aware that employee productivity through cloud work is a key factor for the security of their company. The user-friendliness and thus the satisfaction of the workforce is also recognized as a very important component to enhance the resilience of a company and make it crisis-proof.

Most IT Managers (82%) take cloud technology into account in their planning. 57% of those prioritize working in the cloud while still maintaining an on-premises infrastructure for a small number of business areas.

The fact that cloud technology improves security during crises by guaranteeing the teams' productivity has caught on in German companies: 84% of IT Managers agree with the statement that providing location- and device-independent access to corporate applications,  around the clock, is important for organizations, especially in times of crisis.

"German IT managers can leverage cloud-based strategies to drive resilience with an investment in technology to improve endpoint security (90%), collaboration (84%), and automation of certain business processes (76%)." (Forrester Study, May 2020)

According to the Forrester study, German companies are already leading the way in Europe when it comes to implementing cloud technology. There is potential for improvement, especially in the way business applications are made accessible via the cloud. In this context, it is interesting to note that 94% of IT managers from Germany agree that despite the successful migration of some key applications to the cloud, "there is still a lot of work to be done.”

The concerns that stand out the most revolve around the aspects of security (56%) and speed and performance (40%). Consistent implementation and strategic planning are needed here. According to the authors of the study, the cloud-first strategy plays an important role in this area in particular. In this way, it is possible in the long term to provide all employees with optimal working conditions and at the same time to ensure productivity and crisis-proofing of the company.

A central finding of the study by Forrester Consulting is that cloud workers are an important factor for corporate security. Organizations that set the right priorities here have a good basis for sustainable business success, even in times of change.

Your partner for cloud migration

By the way, we at Seibert Media also work mainly in the cloud, so we have many cloud workers in our ranks. Do you want to know more or do you have questions about Atlassian Cloud and the migration of Confluence, Bitbucket, Jira and Jira Service Management? As an Atlassian Platinum Solution Partner with experience from thousands of Atlassian projects, we would be happy to help you evaluate your project and migrate your existing systems to the cloud. Get in touch with us!

In addition, we are a Google partner and can assist you if you are planning to start working with or switch to Google Workspace.

Further Reading

Atlassian Cloud Mythbusting Part 1: What’s the Deal with Data Security?

Atlassian Cloud Mythbusting Part 2: Put on a performance!

Atlassian Cloud Mythbusting Part 5: What Happens to my Data?

All articles in the "5 (and More) Good Reasons for the Cloud" series

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