Cloud computing has been adopted by many SME’s the last five years, and companies like Amazon, Google and now Apple are all offering their solutions for customers. More recently big internet-based services have switched over from classical hosting providers to cloud solutions. At the same time cloud computing has been the subject of intense debate within enterprise solutions in the past three years, with arguments vying for the technology and hailing it as the next phase in enterprise IT management - while challengers state it is only a new name for existing computing models. But for cloud computing enthusiast like us, there are good news ahead. A number of catalysts such as the increasing smart-phone adoption and the current tight economic climate have pushed cloud computing to the forefront of business and consumer interest.

A report I read from a consultancy company expected the global market for cloud computing to grow from $31 billion today to $83 billion by 2016. The business segment and enterprise solutions is increasingly adopting the different positive aspects of cloud services in order to take advantage of the numerous benefits offered in software, platform and infrastructure. Cost-savings, scalability, adaptability to market demands, faster time-to-market and flexible payment methods are few of the benefits we have experienced already first hand. These benefits will for sure lure large enterprises as well as small and medium sized businesses into the cloud.

Capitalising Efficiently on Cloud Models

The cloud offerings available on the market today are as diverse as they are numerous. The rise in number of vendors and providers has increased the overall offering of different types of models and services. The sheer scale of options can easily overwhelm those looking to capitalize on the benefits offered by the cloud. Choosing the right provider and service is essential to ensure the cloud offering is appropriate to customer's needs. An unsuitable cloud solution can actually be a disadvantage, wasting company’s valuable resources, money and time.

It would be important for companies moving over to the cloud space to understand the cloud landscape and the advantages and benefits of the different deployment models and service offerings. The wave of vendors and providers can become overwhelming due to the emerging and fragmented nature of the current cloud market, which is only now maturing slowly. Everything new, however good, needs time to develop and mature into something usable for the vast majority of us. Don’t rush into anything just because it’s trendy now. By considering the opportunity of cloud computing side by side with traditional options, it might though make pure business sense to move to the cloud space after understanding the advantages and disadvantage alike.

Concluding

SMBs & large enterprises should understand the advantages and the risks of using cloud computing. This will help to evaluate when to adopt cloud services, which solutions are best suited to your company and how to effectively leverage the cloud in order to derive the maximum value for your business needs. In many cases the opportunity is there.

Analysts & IT specialists should gain a better understanding of how cloud services can enhance current IT management within enterprises. You experts could look into addressing the concerns related to cloud services from a business, regulatory and IT perspective in order to get a holistic view of cloud computing as an IT strategy.