The Big Shift to Enterprise Cloud Computing

As most business and IT professionals know, a big shift is occurring in enterprise computing toward cloud computing. Here are several articles, surveys, and reports that illustrate where we currently are and where we are headed:

• GigaOM: “The Big Shift: The Rise of Cloud Computing” cites trends such as job, investment, and data growth in the cloud.
• Pew Research Center, Future of the Internet survey, “Some 71% agreed with the statement: By 2020, most people won’t do their work with software running on a general-purpose PC. Instead, they will work in Internet-based applications such as Google Docs, and in applications run from smartphones. Aspiring application developers will develop for smartphone vendors and companies that provide Internet-based applications, because most innovative work will be done in that domain, instead of designing applications that run on a PC operating system.”
• R “Ray” Wang of Altimeter Group: “Research Report: How SaaS Adoption Trends Show New Shifts in Technology Purchasing Power” documents that business users are increasingly the decision-makers and purchasers of cloud products, rather than IT.
• Gartner press release: “Gartner Says Worldwide Cloud Services Market to Surpass $68 Billion in 2010“
• IDC press release: “Through 2014 Public IT Cloud Services Will Grow at More Than Five Times the Rate of Traditional IT Products, New IDC Research Finds”
• John Soat, InformationWeek: “Five Reasons for the Cloud Computing Boom”
• Larry Marion, Datamation: “Business Intelligence Software and Post-Crash Strategy” reports the results of a Bloomberg Businessweek Research survey about the business changes during the recession and the increasing focus on business intelligence and cloud computing to support current business requirements.
• InformationWeek Analytics press release: “InformationWeek Analytics New Research Finds IT Pros Expect Public Cloud Services Will Have Limited Impact on Employment” presents the results of a poll of 828 information technology professionals at North American companies regarding the current and anticipated impact of cloud computing on IT staffing levels, required job skills, and specialties.
• IBM survey press release: “Wall Street Firms Set to Increase IT Spend Through 2011 on Transformation Initiatives” “Despite the positive technology investment outlook, Wall Street professionals cite lack of IT staff and high implementation costs as the biggest inhibitors for technology implementation – which remains consistent with findings obtained in 2009. To overcome some of these challenges, the industry is showing a larger appetite for disruptive technologies such as cloud computing (61 percent) to force business model change.”
• Marianne Kolbasuk McGee, InformationWeek: “Healthcare Taking Computing to the Cloud” “Nearly one-third of healthcare sector decision makers said they are using cloud applications, and 73% said they are planning to move more applications to the cloud, according to a recent report by Accenture.”

How do you plan to participate in the shift to cloud computing, to help your organization meet its business goals with flexible, cost-effective, and scalable cloud-based systems?