The number of businesses adopting cloud-based security solutions will grow as they look to cut IT costs, it has been claimed.

Andy Wright, sales director at nonstopIT, said more companies will embrace the IT delivery model as its benefits become apparent.

“More and more people, as they’re slimming down their IT infrastructure and IT support departments, they’re going to want to put more in the cloud,” Mr Wright said.

He went on to say that the attitude of businesses towards the security of cloud computing is “softening” and that they are “starting to trust it more”.

This change of opinion has been driven by the need to cut costs, according to Mr Wright, as a cloud-based solution “doesn’t need such intensive resource in-house to manage it”.

Ease of deployment and external system management through an IT outsourcing provider are two of the principle benefits of cloud computing, he said.

Cloud computing services consumed through external service providers were estimated to account for 10.2 per cent of IT spending during the second quarter of 2010, according to Gartner.