Majority of the companies (about 44 per cent) in Saudi Arabia have already implemented or are planning to deploy a cloud computing model in their offices, said a survey.

There is a growing interest among public sector entities in the kingdom to adopt blended cloud models to meet changing customer requirements in the new era of mobile, cloud and big data, stated the finding of the survey conducted by Dun & Bradstreet.

The survey was commissioned by EMC Corporation, a leading provider of IT storage hardware solutions headquartered in Massachusetts, US.

About 42 per cent have currently implemented a private cloud model, while 22 per cent consider their environment to be a public cloud, said the report released at the third edition of its Annual Arabic Public Sector Mega Workshop being hosted by EMC.

In line with its commitment to contribute to the government and community in Saudi Arabia, EMC hosted the third edition to showcase latest technologies and discuss how they can help redefine the future of public services and national administration.

Designed to be the first ‘All Arabic’ technology platform, the event brought together over 100 IT leaders from government agencies in the kingdom to exchange insights on the application of third platform technologies to drive e-government and smart service initiatives across the Kingdom.

Of those respondents who reported a preference for Private Cloud, 70% cited maximized scalability as being the decisive factor

Respondents from the public sector reported that while public cloud models seemed beneficial for increased scalability, the model posed a series of key concerns:

*About 48 per cent of respondents reported to be concerned about privacy and security associated with public cloud models-    *22 per cent cited concerns around ability of public cloud providers to meet SLOs
*16 per cent cited concerns with overall maturity of the cloud computing models
*14 per cent of respondents reported capabilities around control and organization integration as being a cause for concern.

The study conducted by Dun & Bradstreet also reveals a growing interest in advanced hybrid cloud solutions with 28 per cent saying they have plans to implement an advanced hybrid cloud model.

Talal Abdulaziz Al Bakr, the public sector manager for EMC Corporation, Saudi Arabia, said: "Public Sector enterprises in Saudi Arabia continue to stand at the leading edge of technology adoption to offer the national community access to faster, more enhanced services."

"The study clearly highlights the growing interest by public sector entities to adopt advanced hybrid cloud models that enable them to leverage the security, control and reliability of the private cloud model with the heightened scalability and cost effectiveness of the public cloud," he noted.

"EMC recognizes these needs and with the EMC Hybrid Cloud solutions, we look forward to enabling IT to rapidly deliver the services customers need and want from their government agencies," he added.-TradeArabia News Service