In this policy brief, the OCRE project has summarized several of the challenges faced by researchers when exploring cloud solutions for their work and the benefits of applying for commercial cloud solutions and approaching EO data providers through OCRE. In particular, the winners of the OCRE funding calls have been interviewed to identify the needs of the research community for cloud and EO data and the related benefits, their experience with OCRE, the impact of facilitated access to cloud and EO data, and the remaining barriers at local and European level.