The current state of the economy has caused many companies to be unsure of their spending plans for the rest of 2012 and beyond. The uneasiness will likely influence decision-makers to implement cloud or web hosting services that can improve efficiency, increase cost savings and give them a competitive advantage over rival firms, according to a new study by IDC.

"Greater budget uncertainty requires showing a stronger business case for adoption of external services in 2012," Rebecca Segal of IDC said. "Service firms must be able to clearly articulate business benefit in terms of cost savings and efficiency gains, business effectiveness and addressing of compliance regulations. These are the highest priorities for customers and will drive the release of services spending."

Investing in security solutions that keep the externally hosted environments safe will remain the biggest investment area for businesses, the study noted. This is especially true with the cloud, as some decision-makers are still wary of its security capabilities.

As a result, cloud security will generate $1.5 billion in revenue by 2015, Forrester Research noted, as more organizations migrate to the architectures to improve efficiency and increase cost savings.