The document discusses the emerging 'cloud economy,' highlighting how companies leverage cloud applications to connect with numerous partners, suppliers, and customers, with an average of 923 apps in use and 1,555 partner connections. It also emphasizes the productivity benefits derived from cloud adoption, including significant improvements in growth and efficiency, while noting the risks associated with partners, particularly those in high-risk industries. Finally, it mentions the need for companies to be aware of shared data with these partners to mitigate cybersecurity threats.

1. THE CLOUD ECONOMY
11 Essential Trends About How Companies Connect
to Each Other Via the Cloud
THE CLOUD ECONOMY

2. A NEW
GENERATION OF APPS
IS CHANGING
HOW PEOPLE
CONNECT
WITH EACH OTHER

3. AND AT WORK, PEOPLE ARE USING APPS TO CONNECT WITH
PARTNERS, SUPPLIERS, & CUSTOMERS

4. 2013 Q3 2014 Q22013 Q4 2014 Q1 2014 Q3
759 738
626
545
831
2015 Q1
923
BY NOW, MOST COMPANIES
KNOW THEY USE AN AVERAGE OF
923 CLOUD APPS
2014 Q4
897

5. BUT MANY WOULD
BE SHOCKED
TO DISCOVER
THEY CONNECT TO
1,555
PARTNERS
VIA THESE APPS SUPPLIERS
DISTRIBUTORS CUSTOMERS
VENDORS

6. TOP CLOUD HYPERCONNECTORS
BASED ON THE NUMBER OF PARTNER CONNECTIONS THEY ENABLE
CUSTOMER SERVICE
FILE SHARING
COLLABORATION
1. Zendesk
1. Sharefile
1. Cisco WebEx
2. Salesforce
2. Box
2. Slack
3. GrooveHQ
3. Wiredrive
3. Office 365

7. COMPANIES
OF ALL INDUSTRIES
CONNECT WITH
PARTNERS
FROM ALL INDUSTRIES

8. OUT OF THOUSANDS OF COMPANIES, A SELECT
58 “SUPER PARTNERS”
CONNECT WITH 50% OF ENTERPRISES

9. A NEW ECONOMY DRIVEN BY THESE
CONNECTIONS IS EMERGING:
THE CLOUD ECONOMY

10. THE CLOUD IS HAVING A MEASURABLE
IMPACT ON BUSINESS
Average improvement in
time to market
Average increase in
company growth
Average increase in
process efficiency
Average reduction in
operational costs
Average reduction in IT
spending
Average reduction in IT
maintenance cost
20.66%
19.63%
18.80%
16.18%
15.07%
16.76%
Source: Vanson Bourne “The Business Impact of the Cloud”

11. IN THE CLOUD ECONOMY,
PRODUCTIVITY IS SOARING
United States Productivity
Source: www.tradingeconomics.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
108
107
106
105
104
103
102
Jan 10 Jan 12 Jan 14

12. BUT THERE IS RISK

13. HACKERS CAN GAIN ACCESS TO YOUR COMPANY
VIA YOUR PARTNERS

14. HACKERS USED A HEATING & COOLING VENDOR
AS THE INFILTRATION POINT FOR THE
$148 MILLION TARGET BREACH

15. WHAT MAKES A PARTNER A HIGH RISK
TO YOUR COMPANY?
Devices Infected
with Malware
Unpatched
Vulnerabilities
Compromised
Identities
PASSWORD
*******
USERNAME
*********

16. Just 8% of partners are high risk
8%

17. 29%
But 29% of data is shared with
high-risk partners
8%

18. Percent of companies in industry that are high-risk
THE RISKIEST PARTNER INDUSTRIES THAT
REQUIRE CLOSER INSPECTION
Telecommunications
Agriculture & Mining
Construction & Real Estate
Energy & Utilities
Healthcare
High Tech
Transportation & Storage
Manufacturing
Financial Services
Travel
27.7%
21.4%
20.5%
19.9%
18.1%
16.7%
16.5%
16.0%
30.4%
15.9%

19. DOWNLOAD NOW
CLOUD ADOPTION
& RISK REPORT
Q1 2015 Published Q2 2015
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detailed statistics on the
top cloud services,
fastest growing apps,
and risks you can avoid
in the cloud.