It has become pretty by clear now that deploying a cloud computing strategy is more complicated than vendors, analysts and other cloud cheerleaders tend to say. There are at least five major, near-term challenges that most enterprises will have to address when moving to the cloud, writes Jonathan Reichental in a post at O'Reilly Radar. 

Among the most difficult challenges is figuring out the costs of each existing IT service that would be sent to the cloud. Not only do you have to factor in labor, utilities and back-up, but you need to consider opportunity cost as well, Reichental writes. Maintaining security and being sure that the cloud services you select are in it for the long haul also present a challenge.

Cloud computing can also raise questions about flexibility and complexity. On one hand, cloud services can offer greater flexibility via pay-on-demand or pay-per feature pricing, but these services may ultimately create less flexibility by locking customers in to one vendor. In a similar fashion, handing complicated applications over to a provider instantly simplifies program development and management, but at the same time it can create new complexities in integrating applications hosted by different providers.

For more:
- see Jonathan Reichental's post at O'Reilly Radar

Related Articles:
Intel's interoperable cloud vision and its skeptics
Microsoft launches Office 365 in the cloud
Domino Sugar puts SAP on public cloud
Four businesses moving systems to the cloud