IDC's Enterprise Services Survey, 2012 with 707 companies in seven geographies, seven industries, and four company size segments show a strong interest in investments in particularly private cloud. Uptake has increased since 2011, and clients are getting more focused. There is, however, still huge confusion about what cloud really means, and companies tend to include a wider range of solutions under the "cloud" tag than IDC would.

"While these are absolutely valid solutions, calling them cloud dilutes the value proposition of cloud," said Mette Ahorlu, research director, IDC European Services Group. "Clients are confused and need help to see how cloud both solves the short-term issues and long-term strategic goals. We believe that vendors need to focus much more on the business issues to succeed in this market. Cloud is not a technical sell, and it is not easy to just to embark. But there is a huge potential for vendors that get the formula right."