Emerging economies are ripe markets for cloud computing services - including paid services. However, users in those markets are likely to share login credentials, a potential avenue to licence abuse.
This is according to the Business Software Alliance (BSA), which partnered with Ipsos Public Affairs to survey nearly 15 000 computer users in 33 countries about their understanding and use of cloud computing.
However, it was discovered that, around the world, 42% of those who say they use paid cloud services for business also say they share their login credentials inside their organisations.
In emerging economies, the survey found that 45% of those using paid cloud services for business share their login credentials internally, compared to 30% in mature economies.
“This is eye-opening data,” says BSA president and CEO Robert Holleyman. “It doesn't necessarily mean 42% of business users are pirating cloud services. Some licences may allow sharing of accounts - and many cloud service providers charge not by 'seat', but by the volume of computing resources consumed, making the path users take to access those resources less important.
He also explains that the fact that so many people share their credentials for cloud services, despite believing it's wrong to do so, highlights the chronic nature of software piracy. He, therefore, urges governments to provide clear protection and allow for vigorous enforcement against misappropriation and infringement of IP in the cloud.
The study also found that, globally, 45% of all computer users say they use “online services that let you create, manage and store documents, spreadsheets, photos or other digital content so that you can access them from any computer by logging on through the Internet”.
The BSA says in emerging economies, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Argentina and Peru, the figure jumps to 50%, on average, while in mature economies, such as the US, the UK, Germany and France, it drops to an average of 33%.
“We're seeing a leapfrog effect. A lot of recent adopters of computers and information technology are jumping straight to the cloud,” says Holleyman.
“If you live in a developing economy and use a computer, then, likely as not, you also use cloud computing services at least some of the time for e-mail, word processing, document or photo storage, or other things - although you might not understand those services to be cloud computing.”
According to the study, 88% of the world's self-identified cloud users say they use cloud services for personal purposes, and 33% say they use cloud services for business. In both cases, the figures are slightly higher in emerging economies than in mature ones.
Free services dominate for personal use around the world, but 33% of cloud users globally - with similar percentages in both emerging and mature economies - say they pay for at least half of the services they use for business.
“Emerging economies are smaller markets than mature economies, at least for now,” says Holleyman. “But they appear to be just as ready to adopt paid cloud computing services. That's a promising sign for the global cloud computing market.”
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