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From Annoyance to Harmonizer: Cloud Computing's Maturity Curve

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One of the issues information technology managers raise about cloud computing -- as well as the overlapping "bring your own device" phenomenon -- is that the stuff end-users bring into the workplace sooner or later become IT's headache. It may be the security issues that are introduced, it may be the support issues that crop up when users run to their IT departments for help when things stop working.

In a new survey of 350 CIOs and IT managers, sponsored by Host Analytics, some of these frustrations come to the fore. Well over than a third, 37% of respondents report that they have already been asked to take ownership of cloud solutions that were already purchased by the business without IT's input.

Ninety-sixty percent of respondents indicate that user adoption of Software-as-a-Service applications is also causing complications. What happens in many cases is new silos are created, and IT managers have difficulties bringing these applications and data together. Data integration is a problem cited by 67%, and 39% have issues in locating where the data may reside.

Consider Brian McKenna's recent report on the IT-corporate tensions that are arising as a result of cloud. "Data integration is a hot zone in the general business-IT contest," he writes.

These annoyances aside, most managers seem to recognize the potential benefits of cloud.  Ninety-two percent percent say adoption of cloud technologies is good for business; while 67% agree cloud technologies help IT deliver better systems for less money. In fact, IT is the leading area of the business employing cloud computing, so there's no doubt mixed feelings among IT leaders about cloud.

Another 62% say SaaS applications give business stakeholders more ownership of key applications. As noted above, end users selecting their own cloud services can result in a chaotic situation that IT eventually has to clean up. But, there seems to be a realization that in the long run, it's more productive to let users run with new ideas and innovations.

And, as organizations get more comfortable with cloud implementations, misgivings on both the business and IT sides may wane. "If there is a way of avoiding the IT department by reaching into the cloud to do the integration itself between, for example, a Salesforce.com instance and in-house database resources, [business users] will be tempted. But, as such developments mature, and experimental cloud data integration projects become operationalized, business and IT are tending to harmonize," McKenna assures us.

And maturity does make a big difference. My own research, part of my work with Unisphere Research/Information Today Inc., finds that the longer a company has been working with cloud, the fewer concerns regarding hot-button issues such as loss of control and security.  However, as time goes by, integration becomes a bigger concern. The survey was conducted among 364 members of the Oracle Applications Users Group, and underwritten by Oracle.

Initially, the IT department workarounds — to get applications up and running faster, or to get around IT departments— are seen as the greatest benefit. For example, 33% of the companies just starting out with cloud say they see getting around any constraints of their IT departments as a benefit. But this drops to 22% as companies move up the experience curve (with five or more years under their belts). Essentially, much of this work is turned back to IT.

More mature cloud users – those with five or more years experience – are far more concerned with cloud integration issues, or the ability to integrate their private cloud to public cloud or other in-house solutions—28% express frustration with this challenge, versus only eight percent of companies just starting out with cloud.

Those companies that are new to cloud are more likely to run into organizational roadblocks. Thirty-one percent of the more inexperienced companies struggle with getting cross-organizational support. It seems the experienced companies have this problem well under control, however – by the time they get 5 or more years' experience under their belts, only 11% still report having problems with getting support from their companies.

Loss of visibility and control over applications seems to be a problem that persists for a while, however. About 21% of the new sites run into this issue, which seems to spike for the next few years – 35% of companies with 1-5 years' experience have this problem. By the time the company has settled in with cloud environments for more than five years, those concerned about visibility and control drops back to 22%.