Data privacy is the main obstacle to cloud adoption among organisations, with 74 per cent of respondents citing it as a concern, more than last year's top mention of security, according to VMware, which announced the results of its study "Cloud Computing in Asia Pacific: The Annual Cloud Maturity Index" conducted in October 2011 by Forrester.

The study also indicated that integration with existing systems remained high on the list of barriers to cloud adoption, with 68 per cent expressing significant concerns. Other key concerns included lack of interoperability across clouds - 57 per cent; fear of vendor lock-in - 59 per cent; and immature cloud management features - 57 per cent.

Andrew Dutton, senior vice president and general manager of VMware Asia Pacific Japan said that companies in the Asia-Pacific and Japan are more confident about cloud computing today than they were a year ago. However, some obstacles still prevent them from fully benefiting from technology.

He said that businesses are increasingly seeing cloud computing as relevant to their needs, especially among larger enterprises. The study showed that 64 per cent of regional firms are either using or planning cloud initiatives compared with 59 per cent a year ago. IT-savvy players such as telecommunications and technology companies are ahead of the pack for cloud adoption, while government and insurance companies lead in planning cloud adoption. Cloud adoption rates increase according to the size of organisations.

The cost reduction and reduced hardware infrastructure cost remain the drivers for cloud adoption with the need for cloud management tools in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The index also found that 80 per cent of organisations in APJ link cloud computing with on-demand storage and networking.

"As companies look to gain cost efficiencies, utility-based scalable storage and networking platform in the cloud will be instrumental to helping them meet unexpected capacity demands and shortfalls," said Dutton.

Ed Lenta, general manager of VMware Asean said that among Thai organisations 90 per cent believe cloud computing is relevant o their organisation against 83 regionally and 88 per cent in 2010. About 32 per cent of Thai organisations have cloud initiatives in place, up from 21 per cent 12 months ago. But another 40 per cent of organisations are actively planning cloud initiatives, which is one of the highest rates in the Asia-Pacific. Thai organisations are overwhelmingly focused on the cost-saving benefits of cloud and currently lead the region in viewing cloud as a cost-saving measure.

He said the drivers for cloud computing in Thailand are: to more effectively share IT resources - 89 per cent; pay for the IT actually consumed - 89 per cent; and become more flexible - 86 per cent.