If you are interested in ways to make your business more efficient, then Cloud Computing may be just what you have been looking for. Cloud Computing can enable you to drive down the costs of your IT function. In Cloud Computing, data is no longer stored in-house and software applications will no longer be owned by your company. Instead, computing is shifted to a shared service provider. Once you adopt Cloud Computing, you will then be charged for use of software applications and data storage in the same way you are currently charged for electricity. In an era of tight budgets, the opportunity to make financial savings means that Cloud Computing looks especially attractive. If you have a Gmail account, you will already be using a form of Cloud Computing. Your emails are stored externally, and you can read them anywhere on your laptop or on your Blackberry. NetBooks are another instance of Cloud Computing. These devices are simple, with limited functionality, and the only apps are in the Cloud. Learn how to manage risk in the Cloud For Cloud Computing to be a viable option, you need to be confident that your business information will be secure and that the service you offer to your customers will still be reliable. So if you want to adopt a Cloud Computing strategy, you need to make sure you carry out due diligence on the service provider before you entrust this firm with your vital data. However, the author challenges the assumption that Cloud Computing will offer less protection to your data than relying on an in-house server. Cloud Computing not only allows you to make economies of scale; it can also offer you the increased security that comes from sharing the resource. The author argues that moving over to Cloud Computing can actually help to defend your organisation from threats such as denial of service attacks, viruses and worms. Making the right decision Cloud service providers will tell you that Cloud Computing is bound to be better, faster and cheaper. The reality is that before switching over to Cloud Computing, you need to think carefully about whether it will really work for your business. This book shows you what you need to do to ensure that with Cloud Computing you will continue to give the standard of service your customers require. It also offers you some valuable tips on how to choose your provider of Cloud services.