The second annual Mimecast Cloud Adoption Survey conducted by Loudhouse offers some promising statistics in the adoption of cloud computing. Specifically, it found that 51 percent of businesses in both the US and the UK are using some form of cloud computing service.

The survey polled over 500 IT decision-makers in the two countries and saw that 74 percent of businesses using cloud services have noticed relief internally. What’s more, 73 percent believe cloud services have decreased their infrastructure costs, and 57 percent said their security has improved on the cloud.

Incidentally, cloud computing management company RightScale also announced this month that its customer cloud infrastructure spend has increased 1,000 percent from June 2009 to June 2010. It credits the increase to the following reasons: the number of cloud servers in use by its customers, the servers running for longer periods of time, and the customers using larger servers.

Another indicator of cloud computing growth is that Gartner, the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, projects cloud service revenue to reach $68.3 billion this year.

Although these statistics show dramatic growth in the transition to the cloud, many businesses are still fearful of making the move. They are concerned about the security and privacy of their sensitive data, the sustainability of cloud service providers, and potentially high bandwidth costs.

Despite the concerns, multiple federal agencies in the US are embracing cloud computing, including the departments of defense and energy. The Securities and Exchange Commission is adopting cloud computing as well. Although the government is aware that concerns are present, it hopes they will be resolved before the 10-year transition is complete.

To alleviate some of these issues associated with the cloud, Gartner’s Global IT Council for Cloud Services constructed six rights and one responsibility for consumers and providers. If implemented, Gartner said these standards would be beneficial for businesses and providers, and also make the transition to the cloud smoother.

What is your view on cloud computing? Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, or is it the other way around?