IT contractors may be required to help businesses move towards cloud computing, as new research suggests that most are unprepared for move to a virtualised network.

According to data centre management company nlyte Software, UK firms take a "naive" approach to data centre management.

The company's research found that 52 per cent of chief information officers (CIOs) intend to make changes to their method of data storage, yet 64 per cent of businesses do not have the necessary management processes in place to make it work long-term.

According to Jon Temple, chief executive officer of nlyte Software, it's logical for the companies to want to streamline their data centres to make them cost effective.

"The question remains though as to how UK organisations plan to do this when almost two thirds of respondents still don't have the proper tools in place to help them optimise their existing data centre assets," Mr Temple added.

Earlier this week, Chris Boyd, a malware researcher at Sunbelt Software, warned that many businesses expect virtualisation to solve their data security problems, when in fact cloud networks are just as vulnerable as any other system.