Or, should the question be, is the cloud a good option for you considering the nature of your business and the limited ducats you're able to spend? The cloud is bringing applications to smaller players who were once out of reach, and is quickly changing the playing field in terms of who can access and leverage enterprise-level cloud applications and infrastructure.
There are other things you need to consider as well, including how to sync data now stored in the cloud back into your on-premise systems. Most of those who move to the cloud will do so in segments, so integration is going to be an ongoing problem.
Also, make sure to keep things on your radar that typically are not, including security, privacy, and performance. Despite what the naysayers are spouting, these are typically easy problems to solve, but you need to do some advanced planning.
The best way to proceed is to first understand your existing limitations, and therefore the core needs of your existing IT solution. There is always something that's desired that has not been affordable in the past, such as CRM or calendar sharing. Now is a great time to reevaluate the affordability of those systems, given the new opportunities in the cloud.
Second, make sure to do your homework around the true ROI of using cloud computing for some of your IT needs. As we mentioned above, make sure to look at costs and benefits over a three to five year horizon. That's a good indicator of value. In certain cases, cloud computing systems could be more expensive than on-premise systems, despite the cloud computing hype crowd telling you otherwise. The truth is somewhere in the middle, and it depends upon your organization.
Finally, continue to look at cloud computing as part of the strategy. If no cost effective solutions exist today in the cloud, chances are a few will show up next year or the year after. This is about looking at the option of cloud computing as a quickly changing space, and cloud computing providers should get better and cheaper as time progresses.
Clearly, it's an evolution in thinking, technology, and the way we consume IT resources. There are no magic beans here, but perhaps some opportunities now or in the future.
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