Dive Brief:

• Organizations with executives who report high levels of trust in cloud technology have seen a 9.1% rise in profit, according to the a recent survey of 452 senior executives by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). However, those with low levels of trust in the cloud only saw their profits rise 1%. 
• Sponsored by Google, EIU surveyed executives from 10 different countries and across industries to see how enterprises were adopting the cloud and how much they trusted the technology. Only 16% of survey respondents indicated high levels of trust in cloud technology and 19% cited low levels of cloud trust in their organizations. 
• Of those surveyed, 52% said their overall cloud trust increased in the past three years, but 13% said the amount of trust they had in cloud technology declined. 

Dive Insight:

The era of "no-cloud" companies is coming to an end. For many executives, the decision is not whether to adopt the cloud, but instead, deciding between public, private or hybrid options. 

Though many executives report not fully trusting cloud technology, the use of the cloud is on the rise and is now almost prescriptive in an enterprise. According to the study, 99% of respondents use at least some cloud services in their organizations. 

"Things are evolving rapidly. The cloud is almost mature," said Dr. Said Tabet, co-chair of the CloudTrust Working Group, according to the report. 

The study ties high levels of trust in the cloud to increased profitability. Though businesses that may not fully trust the cloud are still profitable, the study found that statistically, higher levels of cloud trust have a "positive correlation" in numerous business outcomes, particularly with higher profit margins. 

The report also looks at strong leadership as helping to build trust in the cloud. In businesses where senior executives look at cloud trust as a leading priority, 47% said they had a great increase in trust over the last three yeas. Because of strong leadership, 42% reported a high level of overall cloud trust today.

Though the study is sponsored by Google, there is no mention of particular cloud technologies or cloud service providers. Instead, the report looks at trust in cloud technology as an entire segment.