A Contributed Article by Jared Jacobs, Dell

The industry shift to cloud computing has meant more than just a shift in services for users. IT professionals are asking themselves why they should deal with services that could be outsourced to larger cloud providers, and then reposition themselves to take care of the mission-critical technologies that their businesses really want.

This is the main drive behind IT managers pushing their firms to adopt cloud-based solutions. They're looking to free up their in-house resources for more strategic applications and specialized infrastructure.

Changing What IT Is

More important than the shift in outsourcing IT services is the conceptual shift that cloud-computing has pushed into the industry, not just about infrastructure and cloud computing services, but about how IT talent perceives itself collectively.

Many companies debate the cost-effectiveness of outsourcing their applications when they have already invested so much in their infrastructure and in-house software development. But the long-term costs of maintenance and upgrades, the unending investment in hardware turnover, and the problem of overkill projects that were only implemented due to personnel bandwidth limitations-in total, it all makes on-demand solutions incredibly attractive.

What's more is that cloud services have matured to a level where managers can bring them in while maintaining value and cutting costs, something that everyone wants to deliver to their executives.

The ever larger concerns about security are weighing on every department's mind, but it will always get pushed aside by in-house IT dealing with the day-to-day operations of their firm. They have other priorities, of which security is only one.

A provider's entire job is the integrity of their offerings because their entire business rests on their ability to protect customers from malicious actors and ensure absolutely minimal downtime. At the same time, customers are demanding-and vendors are striving to deliver-transparency about how they protect their customers' data. This has forced a consciousness about certifications and third-party audits.

A system's users have always been simultaneously its purpose and its greatest threat, and IT departments have relied on the firewall to minimize the risk of exposing sensitive data to the wrong people.

The problem is that today's users are going around the firewall to get the job done, interacting with customers and third parties. If software on their enterprise system makes that difficult or impossible, savvy users will bypass it with outside systems and software, exposing data to assets to which the IT department has no access. Users are more likely to work with less rigid, better designed cloud applications, and therefore stay within the control of IT's policies.

Freeing Up IT for Innovation

All of these things that used to be under IT's purview are being outsourced to the cloud, leaving new definitions for in-house IT professionals' responsibilities and focus. When freed up from the operational concerns of servicing the organization day-to-day, they gain the capacity to provide analytical support and help firms harness big data to drive intelligent business decisions. They can focus on the innovation that every organization needs in order to stay abreast of the changes in their industry.

When a business starts to develop that kind of culture, they're not just cutting-edge; they're the ones who are breaking new ground. The cloud is taking the pressure off of firms so to give them that flexibility.

Has the cloud changed the way your organization operates? Share your comments below.

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