Cloud is all the rage. Across industries, companies of all sizes have embraced business applications and platforms that are based on the cloud. After all, doing so offers numerous benefits in terms of deployment, upkeep, reliability, and cost as compared to running the same services on premise.

Base: 100 IT decision-makers with responsibility for DNS in the US. Source: The Drivers And Inhibitors Of Cloud-Based External DNS (By Forrester Consulting on behalf of Neustar, January 2016)These advantages apply just as well to domain name server (DNS) technology. Yet a significant majority of enterprises choose to keep their external DNS deployments on premise. Why is that? Even with the benefits of deploying DNS to the cloud, what’s keeping some companies from doing so? Conversely, why do the same barriers not impede others who have choses to embrace a cloud DNS strategy?

To answer those questions, Neustar recently commissioned Forrester Consulting to survey a sample of mid-market and enterprise firms. The study measured their rates of external DNS deployment to the cloud and inquired into what either encouraged or discouraged such migrations. The findings of the survey are fully discussed in the report, The Drivers And Inhibitors Of Cloud-Based External DNS.

Following are some of the highlights from the report:

• External DNS remains primarily on premises (74 percent), but most firms are open to cloud and the move towards it is accelerating
• Despite the prevalence of on-premises DNS, in-house IT lacks expertise, with less than 25 percent self-describing as “very knowledgeable” in most DNS components or use cases
• The prospect of improved reliability and availability pulls companies toward cloud-based DNS, especially in an era when customers expect instantaneous service anytime and anywhere
• Pricing models, migration, and mandates for isolation and security holds companies back from choosing cloud-based DNS, along with perceptions of poor vendor service and support.
• DNS-related troubles pushes companies away from on-premise DNS (two-thirds), including distributed denial of service (ddos) attack vulnerability and DNS protocol security, along with the amount of resources needed to maintain and upgrade systems
• DNS decision-makers prefer managed service providers—by a ratio of 2:1 over outsourced it services partners
• The most important DNS selection criteria were service and DNS expertise, especially in light of limited in-house DNS knowledge

For more detailed findings on what’s helping and hindering the cloud revolution in converting external DNS, download the full report.