With Cloud Computing, Managing Expectations Is Everything

As more enterprises adopt more cloud for important applications, they're finding they're dealing with new types of relationships, unlike anything they've encountered before. Unlike software purchases in the past, there's no longer an up-front installation, followed by tech support as needed. Instead, the relationship is more akin to a marriage in which the spouses not only live together, but also work together all day long -- 24x7. That means a highly co-dependent relationship. So cloud consumers need to expect their providers to have well-functioning data centers, running in top form at all times.