CenterBeam, Inc.

The financial services industry could have a game changer in cloud computing, according to cloud expert Rick Blaisdell writing for CloudTweaks. In a post for CloudTweaks, he said the time and cost efficiency of the technology makes the cloud an emerging solution for the financial services industry.

Cloud computing can make a business much more efficient and up-to-date, but there are challenges to building a great cloud-based business that can succeed for years. Channel Partners recently identified some tips, including choosing the correct cloud provider, which can help companies deploy a cloud solution.

In predictions for what will happen to cloud computing in 2012, IT industry veteran Udayan Banerjee wrote in a recent blog post that while the basic cloud premise of economy of scale, pay-per-use and better sharing will remain in tact, adoption may be a bit slower than many predict. At the same time, he said there may be a difference in this time next year with how people think of the cloud.

With cloud computing gaining steam across many industries, businesses are looking into their options and learning about how to integrate the technology into their operations. Peter Job, the CEO at Intergence, an IT infrastructure technology company, said companies should do a "health check" before making their way into the cloud.

Investing significant amounts of money into legacy IT software and hardware over the years is something many businesses of all sizes have done. With cloud computing making its way into the forefront of technology, Arthur Cole writes on IT Business Edge that companies need to look at how they can bridge the gap between legacy IT and the cloud and what makes sense for their own business.

Employees are what make businesses run, so it is extremely important to remember them when adopting a cloud computing solution. Dallon Christensen said on CFOworld that CFO and IT directors must understand how impotent the changes via the cloud will be to their employees, so they should look to familiarize them with it as soon as possible.

As businesses start to use business intelligence, Gartner is reporting that many are using cloud computing to their advantage as well. A report shows that about 37 percent already use or plan to use SaaS services to augment business intelligence capabilities in the next year.

Small businesses have traditionally adopted advanced technology at a slower pace than larger businesses because SMBs don't have comparable financial resources. But with cloud computing, the playing field can be evened out a little bit.

For CIOs trying to get more for less at their respective businesses, cloud computing and business intelligence are two of their primary technological concerns in 2012, according to a recent report by Gartner. As far as business growth, CIOs want to use technology to increase the size of their enterprise, gain more customers and keep their current customers.

The Open Group, a vendor and technology consortium, is releasing two new sets of industry standards: The SOA Reference Architecture and the Service-Orietned Cloud Computing Infrastructure Framework. The new standards are expected to help businesses integrate cloud and SOA elements into their business architecture.