"Small and medium businesses form the backbone of the economy in the Asia Pacific. They are the largest source of domestic employment across all economic sectors, in both rural and urban areas. Adopting a cloud approach can make them more competitive, enabling them to focus on growing their businesses rather than managing their IT," said Andrew Pickup, chief operating officer, Microsoft Asia Pacific.

Pickup added that cost SMBs can implement cloud services for as little as US$6 per employee for a month with Office 365 for small business.

Office 365 allows companies to access Microsoft Office productivity tools, such as SharePoint Online and Microsoft Office under a cloud subscription plan. Microsoft recently extended its Office 365 beta to more Asia Pacific markets to address some issues in the slow uptake of cloud.

The survey was conducted from December 2010 to March 2011 and involved 833 CIOs and business leaders from Australia, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.