* Lack of Self-Service. Virtualization is complex and requires a high degree of centralized control, which means business users can't just "virtualize at will" and provision their own resources. But in the cloud, they can, and that saves IT time and money while empowering the business.

* Remaining in the Infrastructure Business. Although virtualization provides cost savings, it still obligates your enterprise to remain in the infrastructure business. IT still has to acquire, manage and replace that hardware, as well as apportion servers, administer change requests, and apply patches and upgrades. In the cloud, IT is freed of that responsibility and can focus instead on new, innovative applications and technology that make the business more competitive. New applications can be developed using newer techniques, like DevOps. The cloud provides the flexible infrastructure you need to support that Agile approach to application development.

For most applications, virtualization is not the answer. You're still running the same infrastructure stack, albeit on less infrastructure. To truly say "yes" to a flexible infrastructure that makes way for innovation, your organization needs to take the leap and move to the cloud.

Jawalka works for Rackspace Advisory Services as an Enterprise Solutions Architect for Cloud Strategy. He is a technology industry expert with 10 years experience in developing world-class product and transformational architectures.