As I was writing my prediction about the future of cloud computing this week, my computer died. Luckily, I back everything up using both Apple Time Machine and Dropbox, so I wasn't concerned about losing my data. As I drove to the Apple store to deliver my dead MacBook Pro into the hands of the Apple folks, I realized that I could finish writing and editing my in-progress article in the cloud! The only computer to which I had access was my mom's 8-year old Mac. It's maxed out on an older version of the operating system, so it can't be upgraded, nor can it support the current versions of MS Word or Apple Pages. And it can't run the latest browsers. Nevertheless, I could easily log on and access my article from Dropbox. And I discovered that Apple's free iCloud version of Pages allowed me to open and continue working on my MSWord file, and to then save it as both a Word and a PDF file, so I could get my work done. (Despite the Apple disclaimer that the free iCloud Pages app wasn't supported on my older browser, it worked anyway.)

So, it seemed appropriate that my experience this week proved my point. We customers are SO reliant on the cloud to do everything and to access and work with all our "stuff" (data/content and applications) that our requirements will drive cloud computing. Forget what the IT priests think should be so. Forget the fact that "customer data" is the last thing that IT management will agree to host in a cloud. What we end-customers want and need is easy and secure access to all of OUR information all the time from anywhere. Welcome to the Customer Cloud!

We end-customers are voting with our feet (and our mobile devices).

Here is our prediction on:

Cloud Computing in 2015
End-Customers’ Priorities Will Drive Companies’ Customer Cloud Implementations
By Patricia B. Seybold, CEO and Sr. Consultant, December 13, 2013

(Read the short sample and download the full article in PDF.)