Five Ways Cloud Computing is Changing the Way We Do Business - How is it Affecting You?

By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor

Think you aren’t impacted by cloud computing? Think again. Cloud is having a sweeping affect on businesses, which in turn is impacting the economy – which, in turn, has a bearing on you, whether your realize it or not.

One example is job creation.

 In fact, according an International Data Corporation study commissioned by Microsoft (News - Alert) earlier this year, it is expected for cloud computing to generate at least 14 million jobs worldwide. As cloud continues to proliferate, the industry and users of cloud will be calling it “cloud” less and less, according to a recent Forbes article by Joe McKendrick. He thus points out five ways cloud computing is changing the way we conduct business, which are the following:

1) IT is becoming a shared responsibility. According to McKendrick, executives within the lines of business have greater IT budgets than their counterparts in the IT department. But, it doesn’t mean that IT executives will be eased out of companies. These IT executives will be advising the businesses as well as offer tactical and strategic guidance so that line-of-business executives can identify and select the suitable resources for their departments.

2) Rapid innovation and failure “on the job.” Cloud levels the playing field for startups and small businesses, as it provides resources for tests and simulations that once took months to conduct. “With new ideas testing or launched with minimal infrastructure investment, it’s okay to experiment more and risk more failures,” McKendrick said.

3) Self-service and designing your own applications. Based on the “self-service” nature of cloud, it’s given businesses the opportunity to spread IT into other departments. An application that might have taken weeks or months to be developed can now be assimilated in half the time, if not less. “When these resources are available in internal or public clouds, it’s that much easier for end-users to design their own front-end applications,” McKendrick explained. 

4) A Do-It-Yourself economy. Outsourcing is becoming less relevant in today’s “do-it-yourself” environment. This is where cloud management and service brokerages will begin to play a larger role as more organizations deploy a blend of services and capabilities, delivered from both in-house and from outside providers.

5) Everyone will be part of a technology company. According to McKendrick, it doesn’t matter what your core business is; everyone will eventually be in the cloud – regardless of the industry they are part of. “Technology is a strategic advantage for many organizations, and this may include delivering information and technology-based solutions to customers,” he said. “Some companies will even become cloud providers themselves – extending their virtualized services to customers and partners.”

So get ready for the cloud-takeover. Which way is cloud computing currently affecting you, or how do you think it will be affecting you in the future?