SMBs prefer local storage, claims survey

In a survey of more than 250 small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), 57 percent said that they expected that three-quarters or more of their storage would still be on site in three years time, with 31 percent saying they would not use remote storage at all. However, a third of respondents expected the balance to shift to 50/50, and a handful – one percent – said they would move all their storage into the cloud.

Despite preferring on-site storage, 89 percent of respondents said that remote access to data – a potential cloud benefit – via a smartphone or tablet was of medium to high importance. A large majority also ranked on-site backup as more important to them than off-site backup.

The survey was carried out online by Drobo, which develops data storage devices for SMBs,  so the sample may not be entirely representative. However, Drobo CEO Tom Buiocchi argued that it showed that what matters to these companies is not cloud storage, but robust storage that's also affordable and easy to use.

"Today's businesses demands technically sophisticated storage that works, without complicated management," he said, adding that Drobo has made a summary of the survey results available for download.