Cloud computing is among the fastest-growing segments of the global technology market, yet less than a quarter of European PC users report accessing cloud services.

In a survey of nearly 4,000 PC users across nine EU countries, only 24 per cent of respondents said they access cloud applications such as online e-mail services or online word processing, compared to 34 per cent globally.

Moreover, the vast majority of European PC users are unfamiliar with cloud computing: 65 per cent say they have “never heard of it” or have “only heard the name.”

The European survey data comes from a broader poll of computer users around the world, conducted earlier this year for Business Software Alliance (BSA) by Ipsos Public Affairs. BSA represents the major software companies in the world.

“Cloud computing will create enormous benefits for the European economy by allowing governments, enterprises and consumers to tap into high-calibre software and IT resources more efficiently and cost-effectively than ever before,” said Robert Holleyman, president and CEO of BSA.

“Unfortunately, most computer users in the EU have little understanding of cloud computing and have not yet moved to capitalise on the opportunities cloud computing offers.”

The survey finds that familiarity with cloud computing varies significantly across the European Single Market, with around one in four PC users in the UK (28 per cent) and Greece (24 per cent) reporting high levels of familiarity, compared to one in 10 PC users in Poland (nine per cent) and France (10 per cent).

PC users in Europe’s more developed markets report accessing applications through cloud computing at a much lower rate, including Germany (17 per cent), Belgium (18 per cent) and France (19 per cent).

This contrast mirrors the broader global trend found in the survey in which developing markets appear to have ‘leapfrogged’ more mature markets with higher use of cloud-based services.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.