ISACA says the growing shift to cloud computing can deliver "significant value" but that most enterprises have little knowledge of the "perils" of transferring IT decision-making away from technology specialists to business unit leaders.

It says eliminating oversight and governance from cloud computing decisions can create "significant risk" to organisations, effectively undermining any benefits of moving to the cloud and, at the same time, potentially creating "serious issues" for organisations.

"Only through proper governance and management can cloud computing achieve its potential for organisations", said ISACA. To help enterprises manage the potential "pressure points" that begin to surface when cloud computing strategies diverge from internally provided IT services or traditional outsourced arrangements, ISACA has issued its "Guiding Principles for Cloud Computing Adoption and Use".

The key principles are:

1. The Enablement Principle: plan for cloud computing as a strategic enabler, rather than as an outsourcing arrangement or technical platform