Cloud computing continues to gain momentum in organizations of all sizes, and with good cause. With a myriad of solutions from bare metal to sophisticated software, IT and business units alike are finding new ways to achieve business goals by provisioning new solutions "as a service" using public, private or hybrid cloud offerings. Other than moving from capital to operating expenses, how can a smart cloud strategy bring real bottom-line benefits and help fuel business growth?

This ITMJ shows five ways organizations can support overall business goals while improving IT performance across a wide swath of business use cases. New business functions can be spun up in weeks instead of months, speeding time to value while freeing up IT resources to focus on business issues instead of patching servers.