When using applications or services in the Cloud and you incorporated them in your business processes you already made the decision that control isn't everything anymore and trust is more important. The decision of putting trust above control (or perhaps even instead of control) will be one of the big decision to be made in 2009.
The matter of control on solutions was something that was probably vital some years ago, however in the last few years it is not control that is important, it is trust that matters. Do you trust the service provider to share your knowledge and data, with the help of their infrastructure? Do you trust the service provider that they will not misuse this data and share it with a third party? Do you trust the systems of the service provider enough that there will not be a security breach? Do you trust your network of people which can help you to find solutions for your problems, or will they misuse your information about the issues you have?
If you want control, you should develop a local solution that is 100% behind the firewall. However at that very moment you are reinventing the wheel, investing more money than necessary on short and long term (since your solution should be hosted somewhere and should also be maintained) and you will hardly be able to collect views from your network outside your firewall. Off course you can do that in 2009, however you could also save money and gain competitive advantage by doing these things outside your firewall. You could even discover and developer new products and business models when you trust the outside world enough to speak with them about the issues you have.
If you want to make it through 2009 you really should giving up the want to control everything and starting to trust others. Would you trust me on this predication?
