Cloud solutions embraced in LatAm, yet underused

Few companies are maximizing the value of their cloud systems in spite of the accelerated adoption of these solutions, according to a Cisco study developed by the IDC.

According to the study Cloud Going Mainstream: All Are Trying, Some Are Benefiting; Few Are Maximizing Value, the use of cloud solutions in Latin America has seen a 49% increase during 2016, with Colombia, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico at the forefront. However, only 39% of companies in the region have managed to optimize their cloud strategy for business purposes.

Latin America holds fourth place in the global ranking of hybrid cloud adoption, a position it shares with Canada, while Korea, Japan, and Germany top the list.

Juan Pablo Rincón, regional manager of business architecture at Cisco, told news agency Efe that 62% of Latin American companies are already implementing cloud solutions, and 72% of these are considering a hybrid cloud strategy.

On the downside, only 2% of Latin American companies have mature cloud strategies, that is, the repeatable, managed, and optimized stage of cloud adoption.

According to Rincón, the main obstacles in implementing an optimized cloud strategy in Latin America are the lack of skills and a mismatch between technology and companies' lines of business.

The adoption of cloud technologies, combined with mobile solutions, is set to grow faster than traditional, on-premise solutions among Brazilian SMEs, according to Intel. Data from IDC suggests that cloud computing could grow 40% in Argentina in the next two years.