Cost is not the main reason behind cloud adoption

The notion that cloud computing solutions are being driven primarily by reduced costs, and that they’re causing IT teams to shrink everywhere seems to be significantly in the myths area.

A new report by Six Degrees Group (6DG) points out that there are other, more important reasons, businesses opt for cloud solutions, and that teams are not necessarily shrinking, but reshaping mostly.

Almost a third (31 percent) of respondents in the report say balancing cost management and value is their priority, and 23 percent are focused only on value. Cost is cited by just 15 percent of respondents.

In terms of shrinking IT teams, yes, there have been some movements in that direction. Six percent of respondents report a decrease in the size of their teams. But 70 percent report "some" or "significant" increase in staff.

The interesting thing is that these teams are becoming more specialized. With cloud adoption, the need for "generalist" IT staff, taking care of routine operations, is shrinking, and only people with more specialized skills remain.

"These mythbusting findings show that cloud adoption and its impact is a much more sophisticated spectrum of cause and effect than many had previously thought", comments Campbell Williams, Group Strategy and Marketing director at Six Degrees.

"At the same time we are also seeing increased reliance on cloud service providers, which means more will be expected of them.  Almost all of the respondents said that providers who aggregate multiple services into a single integrated solution have a key role to play. For their part, service providers need to understand how to engage with highly-skilled in-house teams much more effectively than many have done so in the past".

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