In an era when IT business entwines cloud debate, scour over the mindset of IT executives and you will find cogent, colorable statements for cloud embracement. The question of cloud has moved from ”What?” to “How” and “When.” The time of cloud has arrived. There is no vertical in the IT-industry that today can afford to ignore cloud computing. But one of the key questions many traditional IT service providers are asking themselves is: How will cloud computing affect my business, existing service providers and the services that I offer?

These were the questions that keystoned the session at the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum at Mumbai. The discussants analyzed the cloud-questions and its impact on IT services in general.

Opening the discussion, Stanton Jones said, “the prime question remains, what kind of an impact will this disruptive technology have on existing services marketplace? Responding to the opening note, Paul Cobby, said, “Business as in today’s economic turmoil needs to address various considerations and to address these, IT itself must change the way it delivers the services.” Business agility is the key, an important ingredient to script market growth and cloud has the potential to help business and transform the services landscape by offering increased agility and lower costdriven services. This potential will only be realized when enterprises start taking the steps needed to seize the cloud opportunity.

This is just one aspect of cloud, the real challenge is in deciding how to use it in right context. Each organization will need to tailor its approach to the cloud to get the most out of it. On the question of “Cloud Impact on IT Services”, Stanton Jones opines, “The cloud-big data transition is having a measurable impact on IT services industry and also on outsourcing industry, the shift to cloud is altering supplier behaviors and is posing new challenges for both customers and suppliers alike in the transition from more traditional service delivery models.” The above statement is evident, for example, the nature of IT service agreements themselves, which were essentially unchanged as recently as two years ago, have begun to evolve. Service providers will broaden and deepen their cloud-related portfolios offering services that will mark an important psychological shift in the ongoing enterprise market.

Most of the services offered by software vendors today will soon be offered as “as-a-Service” because it gives cost efficiency which is acceptable to most of the customers. As such, enterprises will eventually be forced to standardize their processes in order to ensure that underlying cost structures meet industry averages. In response, buyers will move away from long-term contracts where the return on investment depended on continuous improvement, and move to shorter-term contracts with more. The cloud-utility model will extend the benefits of IT-service delivery.

Cloud-based services will radically change the enterprise business from the service providers’ perspective, says Stanton Jones. Cloud computing will create a very different IT  marketplace and also create a lot of friction over the next five years. Intricacies provided by the service providers will very change the way enterprise-IT service providers cost  their services. Cloud computing gives tremendous benefits to organizations but in spite of these benefits impediments like security matters, customization and integration are hindering the rise of cloud–based enterprise services.

Buyers really should also take into consideration when choosing from the diverse offers of cloud service providers if they have the capabilities in managing long – term IT advanced innovations towards the diverse cloud environment. In order to steer clear of the hazards in selecting IT service providers, buyers need to first turn out to be at ease with the basics of cloud computing just before taking advantage.

What is clear is that this is a new game that cannot be played successfully under old rules. Companies that intend to be effective in the new game need to start changing the way they manage their IT and business operations now. They need to plan for the environment of the future; they need to carefully assess the risks involved with deploying new technologies; and they need to understand at an even more detailed level the capabilities of their suppliers and providers.