Frankenthal, July 25th 2016 – Cloud computing is being used in logistics more and more. This is the result of a comparative study which was conducted by the Frankenthal-based IT company AXIT in cooperation with the head of the Ludwigshafen Institute for Cloud Computing (IfCC), Prof. Dr. Uwe Hannig, on the developments of cloud technology in logistics. The biggest driver of this IT trend is the management of supply chains: As complexity in this field has clearly increased, the demand is for solutions which facilitate cross-company management of supply chains through cloud-based IT applications.

After a survey in 2012, this study is the second snapshot on the topic which AXIT has conducted together with the IfCC. A total of 218 logistics experts from 15 countries have participated in the online survey, which makes it one of the biggest of its kind in Europe. Both logistics providers and shippers have participated in the survey.

More than half of the respondents (52.8 per cent) already use cloud-based IT solutions to manage their processes while another 17 per cent plan this for the upcoming two to three years. Thus in the near future more than two thirds (70 per cent) of the surveyed German companies will be using cloud solutions.

“Cloud computing has firmly established itself in the logistics’ IT world”, says Frauke Heistermann, member of AXIT’s management. “Many companies see this technology as an opportunity to continuously digitize the complex and interacting processes in logistics.”

When selecting a cloud provider the companies make no compromises. Security is the top criterion. Only those who offer a security concept, covering both data protection and data security, will be considered as a provider. This is one of the study’s results.

The AXIT study can be requested free of charge at www.axit.de/en/cloud-study-2016.