Analyzing the IDG Enterprise Cloud Computing Study: Organizational Impacts from the Cloud

 In the previous blog part 3, we have discussed the state of adoption of cloud and found how managers are looking to leverage the utility and benefits offered by the cloud. In this blog we will try to focus on the organizational impacts from the cloud. Transition to cloud environment entails a few additional investments for the companies and more importantly, new skills need to be learnt and hence the companies may need to hire new personnel specialized in handling cloud environments and cloud based applications.  In the IDG survey, several questions were posed to respondents in smaller enterprises that typically had lesser than 100 employees and larger corporations that had excessive of 1000 employees. For the question as to how the IT department’s function in the enterprise would be impacted over the next twelve months, according to the survey, 57% of the respondents from the larger enterprises felt that IT would be required to collaborate with other departments and business units to ensure smoother cloud based operations. Similarly, 46% of the respondents from smaller enterprises felt the same. For the query pertaining to retention or repositioning of existing IT staff, 45% of the small companies agreed that they would either retain or reposition

existing IT staff and 54% of the larger companies answered in affirmative. More than 54% of the larger companies are willing to recruit new IT resources with specific skills to manage their cloud based applications while the number of smaller companies is on a lower side with only 34% of the companies willing to hire new talent. However, 23% of the larger enterprises still believe that IT headcount will be reduced and only 13% of the smaller companies felt so. As far as the IT budgets are concerned, 20% of the smaller companies answered that IT will develop newer pricing models over the next 12 months while 34% of the larger companies felt that IT would develop newer pricing models. Interestingly, 26% of the larger companies felt that IT budgets would reduce over the next one year while only 13% of the smaller companies believe that IT budgets would reduce. In a nutshell, enterprises, both large and small strongly believe that acquiring new talent or equipping the existing staff with new specialized skills to be of prime importance over the next one year. Majority of the respondents felt the need of IT to be collaborating with other departments or business units. While fewer enterprises felt that It budgets would reduce over the next twelve months, even fewer respondents felt that the IT budgets would reduce over the next year. In the next part of this blog series we will see how companies are upgrading their cloud services and how to choose the right cloud model. DoubleHorn is a leading cloud based Managed Services Provider, founded in January 2005 and based in Austin, TX. We specialize in delivering Cloud Services, Managed Communications and Consulting to the Enterprise, Government and SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) sectors. If you are new to the cloud and not sure how to get started, contact us for a complimentary initial assessment at solutions@doublehorn.com or (855) 61-VOICE.