HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to a new survey by global information technology association ISACA, cloud computing adoption is on the rise in Hong Kong and China. Results showed that 20 percent of enterprises plan to use it for non-mission-critical IT services this year, doubling the number from last year. Meanwhile, the number of enterprises that plan to use cloud for mission-critical services rose from 7 percent to 11 percent, and those that do not use cloud for any IT services has decreased by 6 points to 41 percent.

“With the China economy growing at a rapid pace, enterprises’ needs for agility and scalability have never been greater. Cloud computing certainly fits the bill, and there is no surprise to see cloud adoption increasing so quickly here,” said Michael Yung, president of the ISACA China Hong Kong Chapter. “Many C-suite decision makers have commissioned their IT professionals to carefully assess the applicability and analyze the risk against benefits for deploying cloud technology. The next 12 months will be interesting, as a number of them will start to deploy cloud computing in areas they think will reap benefits to the organizations.”

“Today, enterprises need to place stronger emphasis on and better align three levels of governance, namely corporate, IT and data governance. They hold the key to the mitigation of cloud-related risks,” Yung commented.

The 2011 ISACA IT Risk/Reward Barometer also found that 40 percent of the information security and IT audit professionals in Hong Kong and China believe the risk of employees using personal mobile devices for work activities outweigh the benefits, with 33 percent believing that mobile devices owned by employees pose the greatest risk, compared to 29 percent who chose work-supplied flash drives as riskiest. More than 70 percent of respondents reported that their enterprises have a security policy in place for mobile computing, yet, 39 percent believe that there is a need to update or better communicate theirs. In light of this, 35 percent view that increasing risk awareness among employees is the most important action that enterprises should take to improve IT risk management.

The survey also looked at what IT professionals thought about their enterprises’ staffing requirements. With information security and risk management becoming increasingly important for businesses, there is no surprise that a high percentage (64 percent) of respondents expects their organization’s staffing needs for information security to increase over the next 12 months, with 59 percent expecting the need to add risk management staff.

About the ISACA IT Risk/Reward Barometer

The ISACA IT Risk/ Reward Barometer is based on March 2011 online polling of 2,765 ISACA members from around the world, including 80 members in Hong Kong and China. The study, now in its second year, helps gauge current attitudes and organizational behaviors related to the risks and rewards associated with IT projects and emerging trends. To see the full results, visit www.isaca.org/risk-reward-barometer.

About ISACA

With 95,000 constituents in 160 countries, ISACA (www.isaca.org) is a leading global provider of knowledge, certifications, community, advocacy and education on information systems assurance and security, enterprise governance and management of IT, and IT-related risk and compliance. Founded in 1969, ISACA develops international IS auditing and control standards, continually updates COBIT, and advances and attests IT skills and knowledge through the CISA, CISM, CGEIT and CRISC certifications.

Follow ISACA on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ISACANews.

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