Europe lags behind in race to the cloud

Europe is struggling to keep pace with global cloud development, according to research from O’Reilly Media. The company’s Evolving Data Infrastructure report reveals that companies in the region have been slower than others to adopt the necessary tools and capabilities for cutting-edge solutions like analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). 

 

European organisations are hoping to make progress this year, and are investing heavily in data solutions to catch up. However, persistent skill shortages may continue to frustrate the region’s attempts to emerge as a world leader in future technologies.

 

A failure to launch  

 

European organisations have been slower to adopt cloud-based data infrastructures than the rest of the world. Less than a quarter (24 per cent) have been using cloud in production for over four years. This is compared to a global average of 26 per cent and a North American average of 30 per cent. As many as a third (32 per cent) of European companies say they are ‘just exploring’ cloud options and are yet to commit.

 

While a majority of the world’s companies have yet to use serverless computing platforms, Europe trails the pack. A sizeable majority (63 per cent) of organisations do not use platforms such as AWS Lambda and Nuclio, compared to 60 per cent across the world and 58 per cent in North America that do.

 

Time for change

 

Yet, despite falling behind in cloud adoption, European organisations broadly align with the rest of the world in their future priorities. The region is investing massively in solutions that will help improve the accessibility and usability of data. More than half (59 per cent) are building or evaluating solutions in data integration and extract, transform, load (ETL) processes. Another 56 per cent are actively working on data science platforms. Data preparation and cleaning is also a high priority, with 53 per cent of organisations investing.

 

Europe has been slightly faster than the rest of the world in adopting DevOps modes of working. Almost half (48 per cent) are using specialised DevOps roles for machine cloud computing services and deployments, compared to 47 per cent worldwide. DevOps practices will likely help the region improve the speed and efficiency of future development and deployment.

 

However, similar to most countries, European progress in data infrastructure and analytics is being held back by skill shortages in several key areas. Talent is in especially high demand for data science (47 per cent) and data engineering (37 per cent) roles. Companies in the region are also finding it slightly harder on average to fill roles in security functions (25 per cent compared to 24 per cent worldwide and 22 per cent in North America).

 

“Innovation needs a strong foundation” said Ben Lorica, Chief Data Scientist and Program Chair for Strata Data Conference at O’Reilly Media. “Years of delayed investment and a reliance on legacy infrastructures may be holding European organisations back in the global race to the cloud. Yet, whilst they have some way to go before they achieve parity with their counterparts, it’s positive to see so many investing in data. A strong core of organised, clean and actionable data is crucial for any AI or analytics project. Provided companies become more competitive in attracting the best talent, 2019 may be the year that the continent turns a corner.”