If we look at the numbers, it is indeed very encouraging. But is it really happening? When we look at the cloud adoption among the SMBs, it is too low. There are several surveys on the web which show 'Top 5 reasons' or 'Top 10 reasons' for non-adoptability by SMBs. Although security and privacy are cited as the main reasons for not pursuing cloud computing, I feel they are not worth looking at. At the same time, I feel SMBs are not too serious about cloud computing. SMBs need more knowledge or realistic data from vendors showing how SMBs can save IT expenses by adopting cloud-based infrastructure.

Comparing the traditional method with the SaaS-based model in its paper on Scope of cloud computing for SMEs in India, WWW.JOURNALOFCOMPUTING.ORG says that the average amount saved by using the SaaS-based ERP, instead of the traditional ERP, is about Rs. 37000 per user per year for the SMEs under consideration. Such research and survey opinion and user case studies help SMBs increase their spend on cloud computing.

As a step towards this cause, on January 19, 2012, CIOL launched its fifth topic center on Cloud, http://www.cloud.ciol.com. (Topic centers track a particular topic and provide 'deep-dive' content for the readers). As cloud computing adoption is still in its nascent stage among Indian enterprises, especially SMBs, we felt a dedicated resource on cloud would help our readers to get all their cloud articles at one place.

We are open to receive your article contribution and case studies for this section. Please write to us about your cloud journey so far…