Hot news for 2012: Frost and Sullivan says that 2012 is the year that cloud computing will go mainstream.
I don’t know about you, but for me in B2B technology marketing, 2011 was the year that “cloud computing” pushed way past mainstream into the realm of overuse.
In the past year, I’ve written about cloud computing, public clouds, private clouds, hybrid clouds, cloud storage and cloud identity. I’ve written multiple pieces describing the myriad benefits of cloud computing.
(Does anyone in enterprise IT not know what cloud computing is? Raise your hand … I thought so.)
I’ve seen the ‘cloud’ label applied to all kinds of products, some of which are only marginally cloud plays, or are basic infrastructure for all types of computing.
I even had one client hire me to help them “de-cloudify” their website. I’m not kidding. Things have gotten bad when people have to make up words like “de-cloudify.” Definition: undo over-aggressive messaging around the cloud.
So, this year let’s all try to use a little restraint. Yes, “cloud” is a very useful shorthand for a specific delivery model or infrastructure model. I don’t want to get rid of it. I just want to put it in its place – so the terminology doesn’t cloud our judgment.
Anne Janzer 
Anne, thank you, thank you, thank you for making me feel like I am not the only one being confused by cloud-this and cloud-that. It’s as if “virtual” got over-used so they substituted “cloud.” We DO love our buzzwords, don’t we? And as marketers – especially as writers – we are forced to overuse them, as if they are a magic sauce that, when added to any promotional text, will magically produce interest and lead to sales.
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