As reported by The Guardian, “In a recent research report commissioned by NTT Com Security on attitudes to cloud adoption, just 12% of companies ranked ‘in-house skills availability’ as the most important factor when considering deploying a new (cloud) application service or changing an existing one.”

The assumption is that the lack of cloud computing knowledge means that organizations are not getting the most value from cloud computing.  Furthermore, the lack of skills is likely driving many organizations to avoid cloud computing altogether.

While cloud computing drives cost efficiency and business agility, a common complaint I hear is that it is too expensive when considering the cost of the people, not the technology.  With cloud experts going for top dollar these days, the value that cloud computing brings is compromised by the cost of talent, or by the risk that cloud computing can bring when the right skills are not working the initial projects.