Cloud computing interest among business leaders 'up dramatically': IBM survey

Just two years ago, cloud computing was a curiosity among C-level executives. Now it's seen as the path to corporate growth and productivity.

A new IBM study of more than 3,000 global CIOs shows that 60% of organizations see cloud computing over the next five years as a means of growing their businesses and achieving competitive advantage. In 2009, the last time the survey was taken, only 33% viewed cloud as a viable growth agent.

Just as importantly, cloud is seen as the enabler for the number-one priority for the year ahead, business intelligence and analytics. As the study's authors observe, there is a great deal of convergence between these priorities:

"As demand for ever-growing amounts of information continues to increase, companies are seeking simple and direct access to data and applications that cloud computing delivers in a cost-efficient, always-available manner. The use of cloud, which began in supporting deployments mainly inside companies, has now also grown common between organizations and their partners and customers."

Here are technology areas CIOs in the study are emphasizing:

	2009	2011
Business intelligence/analytics	83%	83%
Mobility solutions	68%	74%
Virtualization	75%	68%
Cloud computing	33%	60%
Business process management	64%	60%
Risk management/compliance	71%	58%
Self-service portals	66%	57%
Collaboration/social networking	54%	55%