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The shift to delivering information technology through a utility model is poised to change the business computing landscape as we know it. While smaller companies may lead this particular charge, enterprise IT can't afford to hang back.

Although 65% of the business technology professionals polled have not yet identified cloud computing as a priority, this is expected to change in short order. It is, simply, an evolutionary step.

Consider that many CIOs remember when everyone sat behind dumb terminals and connected to all-omniscient mainframes. It didn't matter if employees were in New York or San Francisco or Peoria, everyone accessed the same information. Users didn't care about operating systems or hardware, just the application.

As businesses made the shift to distributed PCs, all the brains migrated to clients and servers, and the importance of IT exploded in tandem. Everyone wanted more technology, and IT was often central in solving sticky business challenges. Everything worked great (most of the time) until the proliferation of telework, laptops, smartphones, and other Internet-connected gadgets increased complexity. Now, many enterprise users possess two or three different devices, and frustration is rampant as they attempt to synchronize information across disparate form factors and OSes. They just want to get to the applications and data they need, when they need them.

Those old days are looking pretty good.

Of course, where there's an IT problem, there's a marketing op, and the trend toward anywhere, anytime access to business applications is no exception. A few years ago it seemed grid computing, where resources could be allocated on the fly and IT managers needn't worry about capacity, might save us. Grid computing never quite materialized, however, and vendors began to develop software as a service offerings that promoted the idea of applications delivered on demand, without the need to manage and deploy infrastructure. These outsourced apps provided guaranteed service levels to overburdened IT shops and were a particular blessing to small and midsize businesses that wanted the capabilities of enterprise applications without the complexity and cost.

Now, SaaS and grid computing have evolved and coalesced with concepts like virtualization, collocation, and outsourced Web hosting to form a concept called "cloud computing." Enabling factors include more pervasive broadband and 3G wireless Internet access and the meteoric rise of virtualization.

Transformational change is always difficult, but the truth is, today's mobile, interconnected environments demand new approaches to delivering business apps. Cloud computing will move to the forefront of the market, and IT organizations will not be able to ignore it, nor should they.

This InformationWeek Analytics Report examines the cloud computing phenomenon and the impact that it will have on business and IT alike.

This Report is No Longer Available

Report was underwritten for a limited time by VMware.