Internal IT department express excitement for cloud computing capabilities
31 August 2011 14:22:01
More and more businesses have decided to adopt cloud-services for their information technology operations, while the technology has transformed the demands of IT professionals and departments around the world.
Adoption of cloud services has caught the eyes of many industry experts. For example, the International Data Corporation expects the cloud industry to nearly double in size and profitability by 2014.
A growing, but somewhat unqualified, concern among some experts is the possibility that cloud computing might completely destroy the need for internal IT departments, ZDNet reports. However, this could not be further from the truth, as the cloud has necessitated better trained IT professionals to handle the new technology, especially in industries with increasing regulatory compliance requirements, the website adds.
According to the source, recent surveys have shown that cloud and Software-as-a-Service products have in fact improved the operations of internal IT departments, as the technology has created a means of streamlining responsibilities, such as infrastructure maintenance and data storage.
The source notes that the surveys also project SaaS, Platform-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service combined will experience a 70 percent adoption rate among organizations from a variety of industries within the next three years.
Most of the determining factors for prospective cloud and SaaS adopters seem to relate to security concerns. With so many high-profile breaches, executives and public officials have still met new technology with suspicious eyes, though many breaches have transpired through static systems.
To combat this, the Cloud Security Alliance, a non-profit group comprised of cloud industry leader executives, recently created the Security, Trust and Assurance Registry, which will serve as a template for cloud-based service vendors to disclose their practices and security measures to the general public. STAR is expected to be available beginning this December.
More than half of the respondents explained that they know the potential uses of cloud-based products, and how they could be applied to the specific requirements of each organization.
"It is reasonable to expect buyers will acquire SaaS-based IT management tools, given the aggressive coud acquisition time-frames expressed," authors of the study disclosed, according to the website.
Cloud and SaaS adoption has been carried out at a breathtaking pace. As industry expert Gartner noted, enterprise SaaS revenue climbed to $9.2 billion in 2010, more than a 15 percent increase from 2009. Additionally, Gartner projects enterprise SaaS revenue to increase by another 16.2 percent this year compared to 2010.
-McAfee Cloud Security
