Cloud computing users need brokerages to unlock service potential

So the analyst is predicting that governing their use, performance and delivery will all have to be services provided by cloud service brokerages. Daryl Plummer, managing vice president and chief Gartner fellow, suggests that these brokerages will use several types of brokers and platforms to enhance service delivery and, ultimately, also the value of the services. "With the evolution of cloud computing, one inescapable reality continues to surface and that is, as with service-orientated architecture before it, the fact that cloud computing promotes the idea of continuous proliferation of services," says Plummer. "Unfortunately, using services created by others and ensuring that they'll work – not only separately, but also together – are complicated tasks, rife with data integration issues, integrity problems and the need for relationship management. Hence the role of brokers to add value to services and to deliver new services built and delivered on top of old services," he adds. Gartner explains that a broker might be software, appliances, platforms or suites of technologies that enhance the base services available through the cloud. "Enhancement will include managing access to these services, providing greater security or even creating completely new services," comments Plummer. Also, although cloud service brokers may be delivered through technology, there will still be a need for brokerage businesses to take advantage of the brokers, insists Gartner. "What sits between you and the cloud will become a critical success factor in cloud computing as cloud services multiply and expand faster than the ability of cloud consumers to manage or govern them in use," insists Plummer. "The growth of service brokerage businesses will increase the ability of cloud consumers to use services in a trustworthy manner. Cloud service providers must begin to partner with cloud brokerages to ensure that they can deliver the services they promote," he says.