Cloud computing the way forward for businesses?

2011 is being pegged as the year of the 'cloud' by experts and analysts alike. 

Independent analysts at Gartner predict that Britain is on the cusp of a widespread adoption of the cloud. Increased economical pressure on business owners to cut costs means that cloud computing is expected to become mainstream in around 2-5 years time.

The main benefit of the private cloud is that it provides all the advantages of owning an in-house server without the hassle or expense of maintaining one; allowing companies to change their IT payment model from capital expenditure (capex ) to operational expenditure (opex).

The mass adoption of cloud computing by small and medium-sized businesses is being driven by the flexibility that it offers, according to Gartner.

The private cloud fits in seamlessly with the core operations of a business and offers companies the flexibility of having a hybrid solution. It gives businesses the choice of what applications best suit their company - a one size fits all solution is no longer the case and flexibility is key.

Businesses can choose between IT and communications solutions that are cloud-based, 'on-premise' deployments or a hybrid of the two.