Enterprise Risk Management Integrated framework for Cloud Computing

The emergence of cloud computing is a fundamental shift towards new on-demand business models together with new implementation models for the applications portfolio, the infrastructure, and the data, as they are provisioned as virtual services using the cloud. These technological and commercial changes have an impact on current working practices. Businesses need to understand the impact of the new combinations of technology layers, and how they work together. A crucial part of this is analyzing and assessing the risks involved. In the evolution of computing technology, information processing has moved from mainframes to personal computers to server-centric computing to the Web. Today, many organizations are seriously considering adopting cloud computing, the next major milestone in technology and business collaboration. A supercharged version of delivering hosted services over the Internet, cloud computing potentially enables organizations to increase their business model capabilities and their ability to meet computing resource demands while avoiding significant investments in infrastructure, training, personnel, and software. In fall 2010, a Google executive testified before a U.S. congressional subcommittee that more than three million businesses worldwide were customers of its cloud service offerings. As with any new opportunity, cloud computing entails commensurate risks. It brings to organizations a different dimension of collaboration and human interaction, new organizational dependencies, faster resource fulfilment, and new business models.