It would be hard to believe there is still some hesitation when it comes to adopting cloud services and cloud computing, but the fact remains that despite the reported benefits and myriad use cases, some enterprise IT groups aren't entirely there yet.

A recent blog by my colleague at CA Technologies, Vice President of Strategic Solutions Andi Mann, pointed to the reality that while several cloud services are seeing broad consumer adoption, those same cloud services simultaneously reside on the blacklisted apps list of many enterprise IT groups. Separate data from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), shared in this Forbes article, shows that the average large company in the U.S. hosts less than one-fifth (19%) of its applications in the cloud, which leaves the U.S. trailing behind the Latin America and Asia Pacific regions. Europe hosted even fewer there; about 12% of large European companies' applications are in the cloud.

The TCS data pointed to security risks holding back adoption rates as well as more sensitivity among Western companies regarding which applications they put in the cloud. Specifically, companies were reluctant to host applications containing customer data in the cloud. The drivers for cloud adoption were, according to TCS, speed and agility primarily, and surprisingly cost-cutting didn't top this list. Those drivers line up with separate poll data collected on ca.com which asked, "How does cloud computing help drive innovation?" The majority (41%) of some 750 responses said "Helps to deploy and scale services faster."

Why the hesitation to adopt? According to Mark Ortenzi, CEO of cloud solution provider ScaleMatrix, enterprise IT understand the potential advantages of cloud computing, but organizations aren't entirely certain how to achieve their desired goals. ScaleMatrix offers services to help customers adopt cloud, from hybrid to private as well as colocation and other services. Ortenzi says in his four years working with enterprise customers, he has seen a shift in their thinking toward cloud.

"It's growing. Enterprises have been slow to adopt. The adoption rate was very, very slow. But at this point, enterprises are figuring it out. They know they need to get there; they are just having a hard time figuring out how to get there," Ortenzi says. "Adoption is finally really starting to pick up on the enterprise side of the business."

What's holding back your cloud plans? Would working with a cloud enabler help your IT organization achieve its cloud goals? Please leave a comment here, let me know via Twitter @DDubie or e-mail me directly at Denise.Dubie@ca.com.

Take a look at the Scale matrix video here