Maturation of Cloud Computing Helps Drive Adoption for IT Decision Makers
October 17, 2011
A recent Chadwick Martin Bailey (CMB) Tech Pulse study: Cloud Computing—Trends and Needs found more than 80% of companies, of all sizes, use some applications in the cloud. A full, company-wide commitment to cloud computing is still rare, however: most cloud deployments are happening on an ad hoc basis within company divisions. Fewer than 10% of companies have adopted a comprehensive company-wide plan for cloud adoption…
“Most companies are now using some type of cloud computing,” says Chris Neal, vice president of Chadwick Martin Bailey’s technology and telecom practice. “But very few have a comprehensive cloud strategy. Almost all companies are dealing with increasingly mixed IT environments (external clouds; private clouds; hybrid clouds; non-cloud based internal IT architectures), which raises management and application integration challenges. It also makes staying on top of constantly evolving security threats and compliance requirements more difficult.”
IT departments are now more likely to be active promoters of cloud conversion within their companies; while they report that non-IT executives and Line of Business managers are the most likely to be resistant to cloud conversion. This is a major change from past years, when CMB’s Tech Pulse studies found IT departments more broadly skeptical of cloud computing, particularly external cloud computing services. The reason for this change is that IT Departments have noted many improvements in cloud-based technologies recently and they value the flexibility it offers during a period of extended economic uncertainty and volatility.
The ad hoc nature of cloud deployment at these companies is raising new challenges for IT departments, however. This, in turn, is raising demand for expert consulting for application integration, security and compliance within mixed application environments.