Head in the clouds

On the face of it, the IT community agrees. Indeed, according to a study conducted at the Cisco Live technical training event in London last month, nearly two thirds (63.7%) of firms plan to invest in cloud computing this year. And analyst Gartner sees cloud as the top technology priority for CIOs this year. Network management software firm Ipswitch, which ran the Cisco Live survey among its customers, believes the results suggest that previous fears around moving into the cloud – especially in terms of security – may be abating. But not quite: Ennio Carboni, president of Ipswitch's network management division, points out that most respondents preferred the idea of 'private cloud' first, because it's "perceived to be easier to manage and monitor". So there are the first warning notes – security and management still need some watching. But there's another: not all organisations are ready to embrace cloud computing and some currently in the throes of a cloud project probably lack adequate contingency plans in the event of failure. As Neil Cross, managing director of managed services and cloud computing provider Advanced 365, puts it: "IT is about delivering improved business services, not just ensuring the smooth running of technology." The point: both public and private cloud options should be reviewed alongside non-cloud alternatives – and any changes to your IT infrastructure must be suited to the needs of the business, not just fit the IT department's preferred platform. Be prepared to find that, compared with managing your IT in house, cloud computing may not be as cheap as you think. There may well be additional costs from accessing cloud services on-demand and managing yet another supplier. And there's the small matter of having to retrain staff. Brian Tinham, technical editor, Works Management