Cloud computing is much more than an unlimited expanse of servers and software that you pay to use on the Internet. The cloud has become a metaphor for modern computing itself, where everything is a service – which can connect and combine with other services to meet an infinite number of application needs.

Technology Spotlight:
Cloud Computing
The IDG Cloud Computing Survey 2020 (InfoWorld)
Requalifying Computing for the Cloud (CIO)
The Pros and Cons cloud storage (Network World)
3 big SaaS challenges for IT (Computerworld)
A 10-point plan for verifying the security of SaaS providers (CSO)
How to get the most out of AWS Lambda (InfoWorld)
Take even a relatively simple SaaS application like Slack: you fill out a web form and instantly get collaboration as a service. But thanks to APIs, you can integrate Slack with dozens of other services, from Google Drive to MailChimp to Trello and even Slack’s main competitor, Microsoft Teams. In other words, a few clicks can dramatically expand what Slack can do.

The real possibilities, however, emerge from the large IaaS clouds: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. These vast ecosystems contain thousands of cloud services beyond basic compute, storage and networking – and the ability to combine them into bespoke solutions has forever changed the way enterprises build applications.

[ Also on InfoWorld: 27 Best SaaS Companies for Business ]
Rather than coding anything from scratch, developers are using APIs to add, for example, machine learning services, database, security, analytics or blockchain. Grab some open-source code from Microsoft’s GitHub cloud service and put it all together, and you have a viable commercial solution that does exactly what you want it to do in record time.

At this time, when businesses are facing an economic downturn – and the labor and capital required to set up servers and license software can be prohibitively expensive – an accelerated transition to the cloud seems inevitable. CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld and Network World have put together six articles to help you on your own journey to the cloud.

Cloud adoption is on the rise again
Just-released IDG 2020 cloud computing survey of 551 technology buyers, all of whom are involved in the cloud buying process computing, confirms companies are making aggressive plans: 59% of respondents said their organizations would be mostly or all in the cloud within 18 months. Already, 32% of their organizations’ budgets are spent on cloud computing.

While many of these organizations migrated existing on-premises applications to a cloud provider’s platform, respondents estimated that 46% of applications were “purpose-built” for the cloud, so that they can better take advantage of cloud scalability and modern architectural patterns. In another sign of commitment to the cloud, 67% said they added new cloud roles and functions, such as cloud architect, cloud system administrator, security architect, and devops engineer.

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In “Reskilling IT for the Cloud,” editor Mary K. Pratt describes how one organization, digital advertising technology company OpenX, went out of its way to retrain IT staff during a massive shift from on-premises to cloud that took barely seven months. During this period, the company abandoned 45,000 servers in favor of SaaS applications and Google Cloud Platform; the retraining included a mandatory four-week Google training course. One of the most important lessons learned was that the rapidly scaling nature of the cloud means training can never stop.

Even a relatively simple service like cloud storage requires