IDG Enterprise released its Cloud  Computing Research results at the end of last year, and I finally had the opportunity to review it recently. I just wish I had looked at it earlier. The research is based on a survey of approximately 1,500 IT and business professionals, with good representation of senior IT management and large companies. There is a lot of great data in the research, if you market cloud computing services, it is worth downloading and spending a few minutes with the slides.

Beyond the data points, I saw four key themes. Each is an opportunity for marketers to differentiate their offerings or position in the cloud marketplace.

IT Expects Control
For CIOs, the top concerns are security (two-thirds), followed by access, governance, and meeting standards. And IT is a key stakeholder in cloud decisions at larger companies (more than 80% of the time). In contrast, concerns about business and employee receptiveness is cited by less than 15% of respondents. [Read more…]