The Potential of Cloud Computing

The recent coverage of cloud computing is optimistic, yet still confused.

When discussing the industry for The Wall Street Journal Irving Wladawsky-Berger said, “There is a clear consensus that there is no real consensus on what cloud computing is.” In other words, something big and profound seems to be going on, although we are not totally sure what it is yet.”

As Paul Venezia said in his April 9 InfoWorld article, “If we look forward a few years, we can expect to see fundamental changes in the way we manage virtual servers.”

Although a trend in IT, cloud computing is still not being widely adopted by enterprises. As I previously mentioned, the use of cloud services by small-to-medium-sized businesses is growing rapidly, as these services offer a variety of solutions, allow easy access to high-level functionality, and many providers offer data centers and hosting for external storage.

As Wladawsky-Berger notes, “While the skeptics’ concerns–security, reliability, privacy, costs and others–are quite real, the hardest part of implementing cloud strategies has little to do with technology. It has mostly to do with governance, policies, and regulations, as well as with cultural and organizational issues.”

Process changes are not easy, and in IT, there has not been a similar significant change in about 15 years, but the potential that cloud computing offers to the new, often remote workplace and the way in which it enables collaborative work, can not be denied.

Afraid to adopt? Get acquainted with simple, free technology such as Google Docs, and remember, “We’ll all float on OK.”