Disruptive business models like SaaS and cloud computing are changing the IT landscape, according to a new survey about cloud computing, which seems to support this finding. The survey reveals surprising confidence in cloud services with a high degree of ongoing experimentation.
In an interview with Michael Skok, a partner at North Bridge Venture Partners and a venture capitalist himself who has invested in many entrepreneurs, cloud hype is quickly dissolving, being replaced with a mass pursuit of users looking to understand where its value lies for the purposes of their lifestyle.
Skok sat down with Interarbor Solutions principal analyst, Dana Gardner, to discuss these recent findings.
According to Skok, only 3 percent of respondents this year believe the cloud is too risky, compared to 10 percent of the survey respondents in 2011. He also mentioned that the number of people who feel that the cloud still needs to mature has dropped from 26 percent in 2011 to 12 percent in 2012.
Even among the 12 percent, the issues behind this percentage is what you’d expect in an early-stage market – much like security and compliance issues that plagued the early days of the Web and eCommerce.
It is noteworthy from Skok’s comments that very few companies are starting up today and aren’t building in a cloud. Over 50 percent of vendors have complete confidence in the cloud, and companies like the Bank of America are performing trials using the cloud’s elasticity, which enables them to get to market faster and be more effective.
Clearly, the high level of confidence in those already in the cloud system, and the ones with the most to lose, is a confidence booster in itself.
Vendors involved in the survey include Amazon, Citrix, Rackspace (News - Alert) and Red Hat.
So why the huge gap, then, between vendor confidence at 56 percent and user confidence at 37 percent? According to Skok, there needs to be more complete value propositions where vendors sell clear business benefits, as opposed to just selling the technology. Case studies that address more proof of specific opportunities would help in raising the confidence with specific vertical applications gaining more attention.
People need to see greater return-on-investment (ROI) case studies that provide an economic basis for its adoption.
The complete interview is available here.
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Edited by Braden Becker