CompTIA finds Cloud computing growth causing increasing disruption

Grazed from eChannelline. Author: Mark Cox.

As the use of the Cloud grows, so do its complications. The increasingly integral role of cloud computing in IT operations is accompanied by significant change and disruption for cloud users, their IT staffs and their technology providers, according to new research from IT trade association Dell CompTIA.

Few of the data in the study — CompTIA’s Third Annual Trends in Cloud Computing report — will surprise. For instance, the general perception of cloud computing remains on an upward trend. 85% of respondents feel "more positive" or "significantly more positive about cloud computing than they did last year, compared to 72% in the 2011 study with the same sentiment. The main reason for the increase was the Cloud’s enabling of other business processes, something that both IT staff and business staff ranked highly.

The study also found that more than eight in 10 companies currently use some form of cloud solution, and more than half plan to increase cloud investments by 10% or more in 2012. This popularity is driving both IT and business staff to experiment with cloud options and to re-examine the role and functions of IT…

"What’s significant here is not so much the usage of cloud, that’s the same trend line as before," said Seth Robinson, director, technology analysis, CompTIA. "But there are some underlying transformations in the way they procure IT solutions and the way they operate with IT in a cloud environment."

Robinson said that Cloud solutions are creating new types of relationships which more tightly integrate IT teams with lines of business.

"There is now more direct access to IT from lines of business," Robinson said. "With the Cloud, they reach out on IT issues more on their own, They may not give IT final approval, but they are kept in the discussion, usually, anyway since problems are more likely when IT isn’t in the discussion. As procurement changes, it’s important to keep IT in the loop, just as there is a need for IT departments to be aware what lines of businesses are doing."

"The channel gets it from both sides here," said Carolyn April, director, industry analysis, CompTIA. "It’s very different selling to a Line of Business manager than a CIO. Business transformation is just one of the big things on the channel’s plate in the next couple of years and Cloud is just one aspect driving that."

On the other hand, this transformation is opening up new channel opportunities in the Cloud.

"As the Cloud becomes more ingrained as an IT option, there will be more hybrid deployments, and less project-based ones, which will mean a lot of opportunity for channel firms to step up and manage the complexities," Robinson said.

"There’s still quite a bit of opportunity out there that for the channel that remains untapped, including integration and aggregation of different cloud services," April said. "The channel is playing a role in the customer not having to call 4-5 companies."

April said there has also been some pause in the scramble to the Cloud within the channel.

"The data bears that out," she said. "Last year was a gold rush, and there was a lot of pressure to get into the Cloud market without realizing the level of change that would be needed, and the implication for both sales forces, and customers. So some may have retrenched a bit. For those who are in the Cloud, they have plenty of room to move up."