Last Friday, we held our London Tech Week Panel Session on UK Cloud adoption and, while many in the audience were bleary-eyed and a little shell-shocked after staying up late to watch the results of the EU referendum, we had an engaging panel discussion about where we’re currently at with UK cloud adoption and where we’re heading. Not that any of our panelists – which included cloud experts from techUK, Cisco, Behind Every Cloud and the iland customer Bluestone Financial Services – pretended to have deep insights about how the UK cloud industry landscape would change post-Brexit. They were still digesting the news just like everyone else and acknowledged that there are currently more questions than answers.
What our panellists did agree on, though, was that a post-Brexit UK – whenever that may become a reality – will not change a number of things in the cloud industry. The current focus on cloud security and compliance will continue. Whether UK businesses need to adhere to EU data protection mandates or other more local and global compliance regulations, the current investments that many forward-thinking IT leaders are making around cloud security and compliance will not go to waste. And, data sovereignty – already top of mind for many EMEA businesses – will become even more important in a post-Brexit world.
The very well-known and over-marketed English saying ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’, may well be good advice for UK IT leaders currently on their cloud adoption journeys. Keep innovating with the cloud and carry on with your due diligence around support, security and compliance and data sovereignty. Engaging with cloud service providers that make security and compliance a priority, can ensure data sovereignty within UK borders and beyond, and are prepared to embark on a true partnership with customers to navigate the changes ahead will be essential. And, importantly, avoiding putting the brakes on cloud adoption in what promises to be an even more competitive trading environment post-Brexit will be essential. At a time like this, the agility, scalability, cost savings and flexibility that cloud computing can offer European businesses will be more important than ever – as long as you have the right cloud partner to help you work through the inevitable changes ahead.
