In an article on CIO Magazine, Mark Skilton, Global Director, Capgemini Global Applications Outsourcing, debates there are 8 Ways to Measure Cloud ROI. Although he argues all 8 reasons pretty good, especially one argument is most interesting to the companies we deal with. It's actually his first argument:

1. The speed and rate of change - Cost reduction and cost of adoption /de-adoption is faster in the cloud. Cloud computing creates additional cost transformation benefits by reducing delays in decision costs by adopting pre-built services and a faster rate of transition to new capabilities. This is a common goal for business improvement programs that are lacking resources and skills and that are time sensitive.

Cloud Computing in any cases is more appealing to Business Managers than IT Staff because it enables them to focus on their day-to-day business instead of IT. Companies relying on Cloud Services are certain they always use the latest version of technology. Something which is normally not the case when using non cloud systems. The number of old Lotus Notes or Exchange 200x implementations we run into on a day to day basis is quite shocking. Utilizing cloud computing makes sure businesses can always rely on the latest version of software, something Gartner once debated to be one of the reasons why companies are successful.

Microsoft Online Services offers this same benefit. Customers using Microsoft Online Services or BPOS are certain they will be using the latest software when new versions are released.

Read the rest of the story on the CIO.com website.