If you base the development of IT on a simple formula, there are still the same elements (e.g. Hardware, Software, Algorithms, In- and Output media as well as Networking) that become better. Today it is all about the mobility of the devices, agile software, the processing of Big Data and three-dimensional printing among other things. And everything happens by using global high speed nets in the Cloud. Unfortunately the IT-manufacturers are diluting the term Cloud Computing by reducing it to their own solutions. Is the Cloud

• the relocation of Datacenters (DC),
• the Industrialization of IT,
• the Net-based supply of apps (i.e. individual, compatible applications out of the Net) or
• IT as a Service?

Actually Cloud Computing includes all aspects. Enterprises controlled in the past all components of the business. Today, for example, they receive the electricity from power plants out of the public power grid. Similarly IT tasks will move into the Cloud in the future and be paid with a monthly IT bill. On this way, however, the Cloud can quickly emerge to a deceptive ground fog that can lead to negative business results.

During the preparation of the Cloud activities it is helpful to clearly define the term itself and to walkthrough the following pros and cons.

Pros

The main pros of the Cloud are

• the outsourcing of physical computers into the Cloud,
• the use of apps and
• the use of IT-services out of the Net.

The virtual DC relieves from the local risks that exist in the regions, e.g. the natural disasters, political instability or lacking personnel. The buildup and sun-downing as well as the scaling of DCs follow the needs of the business and are done at very short notice.

With net-based software the long cherished dream of modularity on the user side becomes reality. As a result, all required applications are available to the users, everywhere and at anytime. Time-consuming installations and updates are no longer needed.

The regular tasks of the IT (e.g. IT-security, user administration and the regular data backup) are taken over by the service providers in the Cloud.

The Cloud offers new possibilities of the control and overview to the decision makers in IT, since the distributed IT-landscape is available in one environment and in an integrated way.

Disadvantages

At the same time the users see the disadvantages especially in

• apparently inadequate IT-security,
• the indirect access to the employees of the operations and
• the difficult integration of the legacy systems.

These risks exist already today for distributed locations with their internal employees in a similar manner.

As soon as the IT is linked to the Internet, security measures are needed. The necessary measures can be established in the Cloud exactly like under present conditions. The confidence into the service provider is comparable with the confidence into today’s internal and external resources.

The largest remaining hurdle is the integration of the existing IT-systems into the new environments. In these cases the responsible people cannot avoid the migration of these legacy systems to the newest state of the technology.

As soon as the business takes place in the cloud and each employee works with mobile devices, only those systems will be used that offer the required mobility and variety.

Bottom line

The IT evolved dramatically until today. This development will continue and be hardly feasible with internal resources. Cloud Computing is the important step away from possessed IT-resources to globally available, Pay-per-Use IT-services. For the Cloud are the same risks and counter measures valid, as with all existing IT-solutions. The IT bosses need a clear conception of the term Cloud and the associated pros and cons. The future IT-department will no longer define itself by the square meters of the datacenters, the possessed network knots or the number of IT-employees, but by the available computing power, the speed of the task solution and the user intimacy. For the responsible people it is now a good moment to consider, how to deal with these changes. Otherwise the Cloud becomes quickly a threatening ground fog that tears those into the abyss, who do not prepare in time for the takeoff into the Cloud.