State of the Cloud Report Released by the Cloud Era Institute

    JAMESTOWN, RI, August 21, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Cloud Era Institute, which teaches managers how to succeed in The Cloud Era, has released its first State of the Cloud report. The report gives an accurate depiction of the current state of the cloud, defines the Four Stages of Cloud Adoption, and provides advice on how managers can become more cloud-savvy.

"There are two kinds of companies right now - those who work using the new cloud rules and tools, and those who are trying to figure out how to get on board," says Kristin Zhivago, co-founder of the Cloud Era Institute and author of the report. "What we are finding is that the cloud-savvy companies are gaining market share from the other companies, whose revenues are slipping. It doesn't have to be that way. All of this is learnable. It's just that no one has been revealing what's really going on, at the managerial level. This report is designed to help meet that need."

The report documents the differences between "cloud-savvy" companies and those that have yet to embrace the cloud. It shows how IT has been completely transformed by the shift to cloud-based applications, and by the power shift in businesses from IT to departmental managers (who are the ones currently selecting and using most of the cloud-based applications). It warns that managers who have only a buzzword-level understanding of the cloud will have difficulty managing their teams and making solid business decisions. It explains how cloud-savvy companies are using affordable, big-data tools to leapfrog their competitors. It shows that the cloud has evolved far beyond "applications on someone else's servers" and "data stored remotely" to a whole new way of conducting business, where market feedback is integral to product development, marketing, and sales.

"Cloud-savvy companies incorporate market feedback into all of their activities more often and more quickly than other types of companies," says Joe Mckenna, CEO of the Cloud Era Institute. "They know that improvement is endless, and that customers are full of surprises, so they factor market input into everything they do. This is the opposite of the traditional corporation, where the goal is to get something as perfect as possible before launching."

Zhivago interviewed 26 professionals, many of whom are quoted in the report. "I'm a great believer in interviewing to assess current trends and unlock usable wisdom," Zhivago says. "As a revenue coach, I've interviewed thousands of customers for clients over the years, and have found that the findings are 'bankable.' If you take action on the results, addressing customer needs and preferences, you can find yourself in the middle of a river of revenue. This was the mindset we had when we set out to create the report."

Those quoted in the report include:
Gary Brooks, CMO, Urjanet, Inc.
Michelle Dale, CEO, Virtual Miss Friday
Henry Dewing, Senior Evangelist, OnAvaya Solutions
Jonathan Dreyer, President, Health IT Strategic Partners
Erik Grimmelmann, President and CEO, New York Technology Council
Clare Hart, CEO, SterlingBackcheck
Scott Mace, Senior Technology Editor, HealthLeaders Media
Bob Leonard, Managing Consultant, acSellerant
Joshua Main, VP of Business Strategy & Operations, Datex Corporation
Tim Minahan, former Chief Marketing Officer, SAP
Margaret Pederson, Board of Directors, Viad Corporation
Peter Sedgwick, Sales & Marketing Consultant
Prescott Shibles, VP, Randall-Reilly
Mitch Speers, CMO, Global Ops & Founder, Step2 Strategy
Phillip Windley, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer, Internet Identity Workshop, and Enterprise Architect in the office of the CIO at Bringham Young University
Adam Zak, CEO, Adam Zak Executive Search
Tony Zambito, Founder of Buyer Persona
Frank Zinghini, CEO, Applied Visions

The report can be downloaded for free at http://clouderainstitute.com/state-of-the-cloud/.

The Cloud Era Institute is a research and learning organization for managers. Founded in 2014 by president and revenue coach Kristin Zhivago, author of Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy, and CEO Joe Mckenna, who, as the president of a background check company, used cloud-based technologies to increase revenue and cut costs. Both founders have been providing custom instruction to companies wishing to take full advantage of the power of the cloud.

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