Cloud technology, which Microsoft has been rolling out through products such as Office 365 and SkyDrive, allows users to store, edit and manage data by connecting to Internet servers rather than traditional ‘local’ storage.

New figures from Microsoft show a slight increase in the number of businesses using cloud technology in the last twelve months. However, 'the cloud' still faces somewhat of a perception problem with many users believing cloud storage is less secure than older methods that do not rely on an Internet connection.

While Microsoft international have announced their SkyDrive system has surpassed 250 million users, the computing giant faces strong competition from rival services such as Google Drive, Dropbox and Apple’s iCloud.

Speaking to Newstalk, Managing Director of Microsoft Ireland Cathriona Hallahan says that the Government have been “great at embracing cloud as part of their Programme for Government and Action [Plan] for Jobs”. However, she feels they also need to act as role models by integrating the technology in the public service to show the public “how to adopt cloud computing and give customers visibility of how to use cloud computing.”

Earlier this week Microsoft donated €600,000 worth of technology to charity Barnardos as part of National Cloud Week.