THE IMPACT OF CLOUD COMPUTING ON THE ROLE OF CORPORATE IT

Cloud computing could be defined as a disruptive technology which will bring both opportunity and crises depending on the business model and process of such individual or organization. Disruptive technology is a technological innovation which its existence displace exiting technology or intrduce some modification into an existing technology. It is not uncommon for companies to experience a brief fall in fortunes after the initial introduction of a disruptive technology. With the introduction of cloud computing, corporate IT role will be significantly affected, since the degree of change will affect IT governance and management.
The driving force of this technology dwells on the following:
1. cost reduction
2. flexibility
3. agility
4. innovation and
5. scalability
Cloud computing by far is cheaper. Majority of the IT department budget goes to infrastructural maintenance, application, and software upgrade. Initial migration of cloud will increase cost overtime, but being a disruptive technology, the innovation it bring will eliminate cost of upgrading existing servers, and infrastructural purchase. Companies which take advantage of this platform will position itself to compete with the big boys.
Not only this, the adoption of cloud will bring flexibility to business applications. Since cloud computing deliver applications, operating systems, servers and other software online flexibility of usage become more feasible. Braking away from in house software to online software create a strategic opportunity without necessary deepening your budget. The pay per use allows application to be delivered quickly without necessarily owning the application. It is for this reason that expert having predicted a sharp increase in the adoption of cloud.
There is no doubt about the cost effectiveness of cloud computing. However, security standard have not yet come to grips with the cloud platform. Data protection poses concern in the cloud. In some cases, it is difficult for customer to check on effectiveness of data handling practices of the cloud provider. This problem is even compounded when data is transferred in a federated cloud. Furthermore, since malicious employees and outsiders are constantly on their toes to break into system and still value information, it is important to have adequate security measures to secure data and privacy of information.
For cloud computing to achieve its full potential, it must also offer solid security policy to protect confidential data to ensure integrity.



Reference:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/apr09/04-28cloudcomputingbenefits.mspx
http://www.sun.com/featured-articles/CloudComputing.pdf