According to the AIIM “Content in the Cloud “ report, users and managers are increasingly bypassing on-premise content management in an ad-hoc way in order to share documents with external partners, despite concerns by IT and records managers about governance and control. Only 45% have official policies regarding the use of “consumer-grade” cloud-based file-shares and collaboration systems. And of these, 12% admit that these policies are being circumvented. Seventeen percent actively encourage use, but only 8% provide an approved “business-grade” system.

The survey respondents admit that the most likely reason that users and managers are using services such as Googledocs, Dropbox, EverNote and YouSendIt is the need to share documents and content with project groups outside of the firewall. They find them more convenient and simpler to use than on-premise content systems, and better adapted to mobile devices. Two-thirds of respondents agree that these sites are in danger of creating a new wild-west, with corporate content scattered across any number of unlogged and uncontrolled cloud repositories.

Doug Miles, head of market intelligence at AIIM, says, “Frequently, these sites are used in their free mode, or paid for with business managers’ credit cards. We think that cloud-based collaboration can bring huge benefits, but we recommend strongly that a single service or product is adopted company-wide, selected on the basis of its security and access controls, and that the IT department opt for the paid-for version. This is likely to have much better security and administrator functionality, and may link back to existing on-premise systems.” 

The report also shows that most respondents feel the cloud will become the de-facto deployment for general IT applications over the next five years, and perhaps more surprisingly, that document and content management applications will be at the forefront of this move – despite the fact that IT and records management staff are quite resistant to cloud use. This is not necessarily based on experience, as only 4% of existing cloud users report any serious issues such as data loss, security intrusion or long-term unavailability, with 70% having a completely trouble-free experience. In fact 37% do not see data in the cloud as being any more vulnerable than on-premise data, including 10% who feel it is safer – particularly those from smaller organizations.

The full report, “Content in the Cloud – making the right decision” can be downloaded from the AIIM website at www.aiim.org/research. The research was underwritten by Acquia, Box, Reveille Software, Viewpointe and Workshare.

About AIIM
AIIM has been an advocate and supporter of information professionals for nearly 70 years. The association’s mission is to ensure that information professionals understand the current and future challenges of managing information assets in an era of social, mobile, cloud and big data. Founded in 1943, AIIM builds on a strong heritage of research and member service. Today, AIIM is a global, non-profit organization that provides independent research, education and certification programs to information professionals. AIIM represents the entire information management community, with programs and content for practitioners, technology suppliers, integrators and consultants.

About Acquia
Acquia empowers enterprises with the open source social publishing system Drupal. Co-founded by Drupal’s creator in 2007, Acquia helps customers manage their growth and scale their online properties with confidence. Acquia’s products, cloud infrastructure, and support enable companies to realize the full power of Drupal while minimizing risk. www.acquia.com

About Box
Box provides a secure, scalable content sharing and collaboration platform that both users and IT love and adopt, including 92 percent of the Fortune 500. Box's dynamic, flexible content management solution empowers users to share and access content from anywhere, while providing IT enterprise-grade security and oversight into how content moves within their organizations.  www.box.com

About Reveille Software
Reveille Software™ provides actual end-user response-time management for cloud-hosted applications, recording satisfaction levels and end-user experiences.  Reveille Management Console can effectively bridge the cloud accountability gap between the needs for business users and IT, guaranteeing high service levels, reducing support costs, and resolving issues before end users are impacted. www.reveillesoftware.com.

About Viewpointe
Viewpointe® is a leading provider of multibank infrastructure solutions for customers ranging from credit unions to Fortune 100 institutions. Viewpointe’s information governance solution, OnPointe®, enables organizations to manage their enterprise content and digital storage via private cloud. Viewpointe offers archive capabilities, end-to-end check image exchange and payments association services. www.viewpointe.com.

About Workshare
Workshare is a next-generation enterprise collaboration platform that facilitates multi-party collaboration across departments, between offices, clients and among partners. Workshare solutions increase team and individual productivity and safeguard confidential information, ultimately securing corporate intellectual property, customer relationships and the organization's reputation.  www.workshare.com.

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Contact:
Laurinda Hoffman
McKenzie Worldwide
laurindah@mckenzieworldwide.com
(503) 475-8815