Comparison: Business Value of Cloud Computing vs Traditional Computing - Gartner

Gartner, an information technology research and advisory firm, have just released an assessment paper to compare the business value of cloud computing to traditional computing. Here are some highlights.
 
By traditional computing they mean on-site computing whereby an organization owns the hardware and software to build and deliver solutions that meet its business requirements.
On the other hand, cloud computing refers to an organization or business consuming hardware and software provided by a service provider as a utility or in a pay-per-use model (e.g. being billed for using IT hardware and software in a similar manner as being billed for using electricity and water).
Overall, Gartner concluded in their assessment that Cloud Computing has a higher business value than traditional computing for organizations.
The criteria used in the assessment is as follows:
1. Economics – This refers to financial benefits resulting from optimization of operational and capital expenditure.
2. Agility – This refers to how quickly a computing platform can adapt and how flexible it is in implementing business changes.
3. Creativity and Innovation – The degree to which the platform can support new or different business models and unique requirements.
4. Simplicity – This refers to the platform which best allows the organization to focus entirely on business issues instead of technology issues.
5. Trust and Risk – This is a measurement of the trust that exists between the organization and its IT Service Provider and the risk associated with this relationship.
6. Social Impact – This refers to being able to reduce a negative impact on the environment, enablement of global collaboration, humanitarian help and services to the needy.
However Gartner are quick to point out that every organization is different and that a decision to move from a traditional computing environment to a cloud based one should be taken on a case by case basis.
Trust and Risk are the main drawbacks of Cloud Computing. However, one could argue that most people are fearful of anything new and have a general fear of change!
To see the full assessment by Gartner – click here.

I am not a techie. A blog on google apps for small businesses.