CIOs lack cloud skills, says KPMG

22 Nov 2011

It’s time for IT pros to address the “less glamorous” aspects of cloud computing and develop their sourcing and managing skills if the cloud is to deliver on its promise.

CIOs urgently need to get up to speed with cloud computing skills, because right now, their ability to source and manage cloud solutions effectively is still pretty poor. That's the verdict of IT service providers and advisors polled by KPMG Sourcing Advisory Global Research during the second quarter of this year.

Respondents from these sectors were asked to rate corporate clients' facility with various aspects of cloud computing on a scale of one to five, where one represents "very unskilled" and five represents "very skilled". Results show there is clearly room for improvement"

- Understanding the technology underpinnings (how the cloud works) = 2.3

- Assessing the near-term maturity to support enterprise computing needs = 2.19

- Navigating/assessing vendor and service provider markets and landscapes = 2.03

- Sourcing/structuring cloud initiatives and engagements = 1.81

- Managing/governing cloud initiatives and engagements = 1.69

- Assessing risks (eg, data, IP, business, reputational) = 2.07

- Understanding how cloud impacts enterprise systems and outsourcing = 2.03

But despite the low ratings IT executives received, IT service providers are bullish on buyer uptake of cloud-based solutions. Forty-two percent of service providers polled said that their clients have one or more live cloud services deployments and that cloud engagements would increase to 66 percent in the next year, according to the KPMG survey.

"The [current] situation is not dissimilar to the early days of the Internet when buyers struggled to define and execute on strategies to exploit its business potential. It is critical, however, for buyers to leverage past experiences, particularly with outsourcing, to accelerate ramping up cloud computing skills and knowledge," said KPMG report author Stan Lepeak.

"Many problems associated with outsourcing deals and major enterprise system initiatives arise from inadequate buyer business cases, sourcing, transition and governance capabilities. This, too, will likely prove to be the case for many buyers with cloud computing efforts," he continued.

In the short term, the key challenge for buyers is to address the "less glamorous” aspects of cloud computing, he believes. This includes tasks such as defining (and redefining) cloud strategies; assessing migration options for existing environments; and building realistic business cases that measure the true potential performance improvements and cost savings from cloud computing.

Said one respondent: "Amongst users there is still a 'shiny new toy' aspect to cloud computing and especially SaaS [software-as-a-service], and our concern is that clients/prospects are not fully evaluating implications of this architecture, nor validating the real experience versus the promise."