Office 365 Leads G Suite In European Cloud Adoption Surge

The number of organisations deploying Microsoft Office 365 or Google G Suite has risen from 59 percent in 2015 to 66 percent this year – higher than in any other region – according to data protection firm Bitglass.

After examining the cloud applications used in over 8,000 EMEA-based companies, the Bitglass study revealed that Office 365 is currently leading the way, with adoption nearly double that of G Suite in Europe (43 percent compared to 22 percent).

Cloud cover rising

Germany and the Netherlands can lay claim to being the most security conscious in Europe. 55 percent of organisations with Office 365 in the Germany also have single sign-on (SSO) software deployed, followed by the Netherlands at 52 percent.

In general, the use of SSO software has increased and is now used in nearly half (49 percent) of companies with Office 365 and 10 percent of those using G Suite.

In the US, Office 365 SSO adoption is lower at just over twenty three percent and G Suite SSO is at just over five percent, suggesting that EMEA is far more security conscious when it comes to the cloud.

“European companies were among the first to recognise the benefits of the public cloud but have long struggled to protect data as it moves beyond the network perimeter,” said Eduard Meelhuysen at Bitglass.

“In recent years, cloud security solutions have evolved to meet the security, privacy, and compliance needs of companies in the region, driving massive growth in adoption.”

In terms of cloud adoption in general, France and the Netherlands are currently showing the highest adoption rates in Europe at 82 percent and 78 percent respectively. Regulated industries such as healthcare (53 percent) and financial services (44 percent) have seen significant increases, whereas government is trailing behind at 17 percent.

Microsoft recently boosted security in Office 365 through a series of updates and, with cloud computing continuing to generate hype in this era of digital transformation, it’s looking like it could be a very cloudy 2017.

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