Cloud Computing Increases Business Agility, Whatever That Means

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Joe McKendrick.

Is cloud computing finally a bona fide business strategy, versus an IT optimization strategy? It may well be, a new survey suggests. But this new second phase of cloud means things are going to be tougher to measure, define and conceptualize in the big picture. Business agility has become the primary advantage being delivered by cloud, says a new survey by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services of 527 HBR readers in large and mid-size organizations finds. The study was underwritten by Verizon Enterprise Solutions.

Business agility leads the list of drivers for adopting cloud computing, with nearly a third of respondents (32 percent) saying it was their primary reason for pursuing cloud. This was followed by increased innovation (14 percent), lower costs (14 percent), and the ability to scale up and down in response to variations in business demand (13 percent)…

Defining “business agility” is where things get challenging. Calculating cost savings is based on hard, obvious metrics. Before cloud, the enterprise spent $100,000 on on-premises servers and software licenses and equipment every year, along with $200,000 of staff time (hypothetically speaking). After cloud, it spends $50,000 on subscription-based services and $150,000 of associated staff time…

Read more from the source @ http://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2014/07/14/cloud-computing-increases-business-agility-whatever-that-means/