5 Ways Cloud Computing is Disrupting Everyone's Job

A few months back, IDC released a study, underwritten by Microsoft, that predicted cloud computing would eventually add about 14 million jobs to the global economy. Of course, those are direct jobs cited in the study, such as developers. Of even greater significance are the jobs indirectly affected by cloud. Essentially, we could be talking about every job in every organization that will either be enhanced or diminished with the arrival of cloud. But no matter how you look at it, cloud will be part of many job descriptions to be written over the next few years.

Building a new career, on the cloud. Photo: Joe McKendrick

Ironically, as cloud sweeps through with new ways of running businesses, we’ll be calling it “cloud” less and less. It will simply be the way information is delivered and processed, without the need to think whether it comes from an outside service or from internal systems.  Here are five key ways cloud computing is reshaping the way business is conducted:

1. Information technology is becoming a shared responsibility for everyone, not confined to a single, specialized department.Executives, managers and professionals increasingly have access to computing resources that can be procured, as needed, with a credit card. At the same time, there is an evolution underway, in which technology professionals are more likely to be embedded within lines of business, versus IT departments. Plus, surveys have shown that already, more than one-third of IT budgets are going to cloud computing. It’s not uncommon for line-of-business executives to have larger IT budgets than IT department executives.  IT executives are not becoming marginalized, however. Rather, they are increasingly seen as advisers to the business, providing both strategic and tactical guidance identifying and selecting the right resources — be they from internal IT assets or from outside providers.

2. More and more rapid innovation is being made possible on the job, and “failure” is becoming an option. Cloud computing provides resources for tests and simulations that once took months to conduct. Already, cloud lowers the barriers to entry for startups to quickly amass compute resources. Likewise, members of larger organizations looking to launch new business lines will have ready access to resources that aren’t as dependent on corporate budget cycles. With new ideas testing or launched with minimal infrastructure investment, it’s okay to experiment more and risk more failures.

3. End-users are designing their own applications.  It started with the “mashup” scenarios — in which non-tech users could quickly and easily construct interfaces using platforms such as Google Maps to plot data points.  Now, “self-service” business intelligence is a capability every enterprise wants.  One of the main complaints about IT departments is that it often would take weeks and months for these overworked departments to deliver requested interfaces or applications to solve urgent business problems. For example, a sales manager needing a portal to access regional sales data from a newly acquired subsidiary. When these resources are available in internal or public clouds, it’s that much easier for end-users to design their own front-end applications.

4. It’s a “DIY” economy in which “outsourcing” is becoming irrelevant. Why is outsourcing becoming irrelevant? Because it’s everywhere. Organizations rely on an ever-shifting blend of services and capabilities, delivered in-house and from outside providers. Service brokerages will be playing a greater role — these may be companies that don’t actually “own” specific methods of production or service delivery, but through the cloud, are able to assemble and offer services tailored to their specific markets and customers. And will “offshoring” even matter? A call center in Mumbai may be using a cloud-based unified communications solution hosted in Palo Alto to service customers in Europe.

5. Everyone will be part of a technology company, regardless of what core business they are in.  It doesn’t matter if your company produces cattle feed, assembles automobiles, or sells fast food. Technology is a strategic advantage for many organizations, and this may include delivering information and technology-based solutions to customers. Some companies will even become cloud providers themselves — extending their virtualized services to customers and partners.

Cloud may mean many new opportunities for IT managers and professionals — and perhaps some level of nervousness as well. But cloud computing also will be a key element in many job descriptions outside of the IT department — in sales departments, marketing departments, engineering shops, and executive suites.