Posted by: Richard Saunders, Director, Trustworthy Computing

At this point you have likely seen some of our survey data on the improved security, cost savings and time savings associated with cloud security for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). We’ve shared specific data on SMBs in United States, Singapore, India, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

While each region had slightly different numbers, there’s a trend of security benefits stemming from the cloud. Looking at aggregate data from Singapore, India, Malaysia and Hong Kong SMBs makes this trend apparent:

• In a given week, SMBs in Asia that use the cloud spend on average 57% less time managing security than SMBs that don’t use the cloud
• Over the last three years, SMBs in Asia that use the cloud are 3x more likely to have decreased what they spend on managing security as a percentage of overall budget for information technology, compared to SMBs that do not use the cloud
• When asked to choose from a drop down list of specific cloud benefits:
  • 54% of SMBs said their business was more secure as a result of moving to the cloud
  • 48% said they worried less about the threat of cyber-attack
  • 47% said it was easier to integrate systems

For a look at the region-by-region breakdown of this data, please visit the Microsoft Security, Privacy and Online Safety Newsroom.