The Increasing Value of Cloud Computing
Source: Catalyst House Blog
A recent study from technology publisher IDG Enterprise conducted a survey among 1,600 IT and business leaders. It revealed that a majority of these companies have spent more than a third of their IT budget to cloud computing thus far. Additionally, over 60% of those who participated indicated that they will likely increase their spending in Cloud Computing over the next several years.
The respondents to IDG’s 2012 Cloud Computing Survey believe that their investments now will pay off in the future, either by providing the company a more efficient work system or by replacing other hardware and software recurring costs.
At present there is a deluge of literature on the current and future potential of cloud computing. It is also this very rich literature that makes it confusing for people to determine which is reliable and which is unreliable.
Cloud9 Real Time founder and CEO Robert J. Chandler, author of the newly released ‘Together in the Cloud’ observes:
“I see the disconnect that business owners and accounting professionals experience trying to understand how the cloud will work for them. The advancements that this industry has made in recent years are astounding, and I truly believe that education is the first step to success in the cloud.”
Facebook Cloud Servers
Source: IDG Enterprise –
“Cloud computing solutions enable increased IT innovation, agility and reduce long term IT costs,” said Bob Melk, SVP, group publisher & CMO, IDG Enterprise. “Cloud computing solution providers have the opportunity to become a strategic partner as cloud investments increasingly fuel business strategy.
The IDG Enterprise survey revealed that IT personnel and other experts are also still experimenting and exploring with the supposed potentials of cloud. After a decade, they are nowhere near any kind of conclusive result. However, they are fast realizing that any investment that eats more than half the budget should serve a more strategic purpose, regardless of what kind of investment that is. Cloud Computing, therefore, needs to be more than just an IT solution, it has to be used in business strategy, corporate operations, and administrative systems.
According to the study of IDG Enterprise, IT managers and other executives know that. However, understanding the principle and executing it are two different ballgames.
The Danger They Haven’t Realized
Reliability and trust are issues that are expected to come up whenever people encounter anything new. Cloud computing is not an exception. Many of the respondents in the IDG Enterprise research declared that they use their Cloud only for private deployment because they are concerned about security risks. The concern is understandable but there is also a known fact that limiting the use of cloud to private use also means that there are useful management resources available on public cloud that are not being utilized.
The Potential They Haven’t Seen
Many analysts believe that when the dust settles, only a maximum of 20 Cloud Computing providers will be left standing. These are the companies that will develop, market and treat Cloud Computing as a business solution rather than an IT solution. Cloud Computing should be utilized to develop business systems and processes to aid strategic business decisions not just as a database management system.
As stated above, Cloud Computing can virtualize everything which essentially gets rid of the need for hardware and software. It also gets rid for any manpower requirement. What you have is a host of options. All you need is tick what you need. It gives allows people control over the technology even when they don’t know how to manipulate or use technology. This fits businesses which doesn’t include IT as a core competency.
It can also work for businesses on a much intimate level. It can become the virtual system that supports all processes and applications of a company. It turns over control to the IT department and also provides higher level of security.
