Challenges in the Cloud

Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.

  Business Intelligence   Innovation   Strategy  

By now it appears that cloud computing will continue to expand and eventually be the dominant vehicle for information processing. That is, unless the growth of cybercrime doesn’t bring the internet to its knees first.

Clearly there are mega profits to be made by the major players in the cloud computing space--why else would the likes of IBM, Google, HP, Amazon and Microsoft be increasing their already staggering investments in cloud-based products?

Like many CIOs, a few years back I shared a healthy skepticism about the expansion of cloud computing into the core business application space. But that skepticism is quickly waning as issues around control, bandwidth and security are being resolved. Just consider major announcements in 2014 by the technology giants as shared by CIO.com columnist Bernard Golden in his “Looking Back at the Year in Cloud Computing” article:

• Intel revealed a chip design just for Amazon in support of their expansion of cloud-based services.
• Microsoft began to offer hybrid cloud solutions.
• Google slashed prices to entice cloud adopters.
• HP with its new Helion offering and IBM with its BlueMix product signal their moves away from in-house legacy environments.

There can be no doubt that in time, cloud computing will dominate the enterprise computing environment. But that time hasn’t arrived …

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