The Rising Value of Cloud Computing

A recent study from IDG Enterprise conducted a study among 1,600 IT and business leaders. It revealed that majority of these companies have spent more than a third of their IT budget to Cloud Computing. Further, almost two thirds of the respondents said they will continue to increase their spending in Cloud Computing in the next couple of years.

They believe their investments now will eventually pay off either by providing the company a more efficient work system or by replacing other hardware and software recurring costs.

There is an onslaught of literature on the 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 a baseless claim. I am just as confused as everyone.

The IDG Enterprise research revealed that IT personnel and other experts are also still experimenting and exploring with the supposed potentials of cloud and the new role of cloud providers. 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.