Advances in cloud computing and the growing awareness of its benefits drove the market forward in 2012 and will continue to do so in the coming years, encouraging CIOs and other IT leaders to adopt the technology.

The cloud is quickly becoming a "go-to" solution for organizations looking to reduce the stress on their IT budget without jeopardizing a firm's ability to enhance operations.

A recent TechTarget study of more than 1,500 IT professionals revealed that cloud adoption rates are on the rise, but not always for the same reason.

The cloud is slowly becoming the norm for how companies operate, but it still has a ways to go.

While there are many drivers behind implementing cloud services, some hold more weight than others.

While the private and public cloud are both garnering attention in the business landscape, the hybrid cloud is the model of the future, as it combines the benefits of private and public clouds to meet the unique demands of virtually any organization.

Defining the cloud is an incredibly difficult process, as there is so much diversity in the sector.

The rapid growth of the cloud has brought about a number of challenges and benefits to the private sector.

Today's organizations are facing a unique complications as decision-makers are forced to balance efficiency and flexibility, customization and standards and a number of other IT aspects that were traditionally considered oxymorons.

As the private sector continues to be fueled by technological advances, cloud computing is becoming a necessity.