1) What is the right perspective?

A starting point for developing a cloud strategy is determining what your enterprise can and should use the cloud for. "Cloud is most interesting when it's not just about how the CTO can make it happen, but it's about what can make the CEO excited about what it can do for the business," Gens says. The cloud can be an entire service architecture that can change IT staffing, cost structures and business processes, for the better or worse depending on how it's implemented.

The emergence of cloud, Gens says, marks an evolution in IT platforms. The first platform in the early days of enterprise computing was around the mainframe and terminal model. A second platform embraced the Internet and a client- model, which was dominated by the PC.

"Right now we're in the middle of the forming of a third platform," Gens says, with the cloud at the back end of it. Meanwhile, the front end is moving beyond the PC by enabling to be the main access point to the cloud.

2) What's the right pace for cloud adoption?