Darren Cinti, Practice Leader (NA)
Andreas Kauf, Practice Leader (Europe)
Steve Stine, Practice Leader (APAC)

As was the case with “e-business”, “mobile communications” and “Y2K”, the Cloud Computing marketing buzz has generated heightened interest among businesses and consumers alike. Yet, technology and service companies remain largely unprepared to deliver, in part due to their attempts to define what "cloud" means for their organizations and their customers, and in part due to the rapidly changing technology landscape in which software, applications and services are moving increasingly into 3rd party hosted domains as a means of both cutting IT costs and increasing access and performance of mission-critical data, information, and services.

The human resource implications are vast. Software, hardware, and networking equipment companies are increasingly required to produce products that meet the market's demand for "cloud" services. In so doing, traditional business models are under threat, customer’s expectations are shifting and the demand for a more consultative-led selling style is on the rise. Indeed, the language of business itself is in flux. A new generation of cloud engineers and developers are presenting organizations with new ways of deploying products and services and companies are struggling to absorb, test, and deliver these new services to the market in a seasoned, professional and profitable way.

In essence, cloud computing’s success will depend on the technology sector’s ability to transition itself from a products to a services culture, and will effectively require a sea change in terms of human capital deployment, management technique, and new service delivery capability.

The Heidrick & Struggles Cloud Practice, through executive-level interviews and research initiatives, is working to better understand the degree to which technology and services companies are prepared to invest in the people and skills required to meet this new challenge.