The IT department will become more, not less, important with the advent of cloud computing
20 June 2011 09:21:23
The idea that in-house IT work can simply be contracted out to specialist cloud computing providers, with the existing department reduced to a contract management role, is a badly mistaken one, consultant Bernard Golden wrote recently for Network World.
The crux of Golden's argument is that IT departments must prepare to take on a more central role even in companies that they have not been a business-critical part of. In the future, a firm's IT department should be most properly thought of as an information factory, not a support staff.
However, he said, this means that the numerous IT departments that cannot run a given cloud computing application more cheaply than the equivalent public cloud service provider have a long way to go before they can be considered that type of valuable asset.
Implementation of cloud technology should be carefully studied before any solid decisions are made, but there's no reason to ignore its advantages, experts say. As long as it outstrips any in-house possibilities in terms of cost-effectiveness and utility, a public cloud service can be the right choice for many businesses.
-McAfee Cloud Security
