In a recent interview with CIO UK, Facebook CIO Tim Campos discusses the company's strategy for moving as much of its IT operations as possible into the cloud. In fact, roughly 70 percent of Facebook's internal IT activities are now managed and operated in cloud-based environments, according to the article. The types of applications and activities that Facebook currently does not operate out of the cloud are things like business intelligence because, as Campos sees it, "the technology is just not there yet."

 

As we examine this question, it's important to recognize how the roles of both the CTO and the CIO are changing.

In many enterprise organizations, CTOs are responsible for setting technology strategies and establishing standards while ensuring that technology that's used by the business adheres to those criteria. Meanwhile, CIOs are accountable for working with business and functional leaders to set business strategy and to make sure that the IT organization is aligned in meeting the needs and expectations of the business.

 In 2009 the Accenture Institute for High Performance surveyed business leaders from 669 large organizations in nine countries and over 20 industries about their use and plans for cloud computing. The results were just released in a report entitled "Cloudrise: Rewards and Risks at the Dawn of Cloud Computing " written by Jeanne Harris and Allan Alter.

 

It wasn't a surprise that security is the number one concern of executives, but there were some other significant results, including the following:

 

I read an interesting blog about how the emergence of cloud computing may result in a wide range of new titles and responsibilities. I'll touch on some of those that were listed and include a few that I see emerging as well.

One such role/title that's cropped up is CTO of Cloud Computing, a designation that's held by Lewis Tucker at Cisco, according to a recent Fortune article. Tucker describes his role as one where he has "to make sure that (cloud) disruption happens in a very positive way - that we can use it as an opportunity."

 

On Dec. 9, the Obama administration released an ambitious 25-point IT management reform plan. The strategy, announced by Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, is aimed at eliminating wasteful spending, streamlining the IT footprint of the federal government, shifting to a "Cloud First" policy and designing 21^st century career path programs for at least some federal IT workers.

For instance, the plan includes efforts to either fix or scrap underperforming IT projects over the next 18 months. The government also plans to eliminate at least 800 data centers by 2015.

IT management models have come and gone as IT's role in the enterprise has moved from mostly support to being a critical partner with business in increasing productivity and innovation. Three McKinsey & Company thinkers-Roger Roberts, Hugo Sarrazin and Johnson Sikes-have laid out their view of a new management model for IT that requires broader leadership, governance and organizational changes, as well as different management skills. This model incorporates two facets the authors call Factory IT and Enabling IT.

 

As they describe it, Factory IT "encompasses the bulk of an organization's IT activities, applying lessons from the production floor-scale, standardization, and simplification-to drive efficiency, optimize delivery, and lower unit costs." Likewise, Enabling IT is "focused on helping organizations respond more effectively to changing business needs and gain a competitive advantage by spurring innovation and growth."