Cloud Computing: Near Unanimity in Cloud Support — Is the Hype Near it's Peak?

Whether there is some kind of powerful kool-aid that’s been infiltrating global water supplies or for some other reason, there seems to be an ever louder shout of approval being heard for cloud computing.  A new survey of CIOs and IT executives finds that as many as 92 percent of them say that cloud computing is good for businesses and 67 percent think that the cloud can deliver high-quality systems for less money than traditional offering.  Those are results from Dimensional Research, an analyst firm based in Sunnyvale.

92 percent — of 348 participants.  That’s a near unheard of number of IT people voicing their common agreement for something.  What’s going on here?  People in IT seldom agree.  Whether the topic is Operating Systems, Databases, SQL versus NoSQL, scripting languages versus strictly typed ones, or just about any topic, there are typically strong opinions, forceful arguments, and often little room for compromise.  Gartner’s Hype Cycle suggests that every technology eventually will go through a period of disillusionment.  Could we be nearing a point where there will be a significant backlash of disappointment with the technology?  Maybe.  But right now it doesn’t look like we are anywhere near that point yet.

For example, the report and its authors voice strong optimism about the cloud computing:

Diane Hagglund, senior research analyst for Dimensional Research and author of the report, said that “Businesses are investing heavily in cloud computing today.  Our research reveals high optimism and expectations among CIOs and IT executives for cloud adoption and value, but also hurdles including the anticipation that IT will end up operating cloud applications bought by other areas of the business and without input from IT. In overcoming these and other hurdles to adoption, good communication is essential, but not always existent. One silver lining: BI can help solve problems caused by siloed SaaS applications.”

Richard Broome, CIO of Host Analytics, said that “Attitudes about using the cloud for business benefits are largely positive. Their biggest worry is the need to integrate their data between their different apps. SaaS solutions are just so easy to bring in, companies worry they might be creating silos of data”.

But the report also highlights some areas for possible concern:

• 69 percent of companies say that they continue to work primarily with on-premise technology
• 88 percent say the working with SaaS applications have significant challenges, particularly with the integration of data between applications
• 37 percent say that IT is often called in to take ownership of solutions which had been purchased without their input