With cloud this and that everywhere we turn, I’m just about clouded out. What about you? Although the cloud computing marketing hype has about run its course, it seems that more and more people are jumping on the bandwagon. It has gotten to the point that it seems any time a business puts up a new website, it is their new “cloud offering.” Give me a break.

Why am I tired of the cloud as it stands? Well, first of all, with the marketing hype around the cloud over the past couple of years, you would think it is this wonderful new product/service that will solve everyone’s IT problems. The thing is, cloud computing is, by and large, the same thing it was when it was called "application service providers" (a.k.a. ASPs) and managed services a decade ago, as well as the more recent term, "software as a service" (a.k.a. SaaS).

The "cloud" — formerly known as the Internet — does offer some interesting application and computing architectures that businesses should be able to benefit from. The value propositions include quicker startup times, lower costs, and the need for minimal IT involvement and oversight. Sounds like a great idea on the surface; but, as most of us have found out the hard way, computers, applications and IT are not that simple.

The biggest misconception — and risk — is that once applications, network management and other IT services are moved out of the building and into the cloud, there is instantly less to worry about. Sure, maybe there are fewer servers to manage and less Internet bandwidth to worry about, and, perhaps businesses that have never invested the time and money into writing a solid disaster recovery plan now have a fighting chance when the unexpected occurs. But the harsh reality is that just because someone else is managing a chunk of your information systems, does not mean that you and your business are any less responsible for ongoing security, compliance and information management.