Do Nothing

IT leaders should understand that doing nothing to move workloads to the cloud isn't the same as avoiding cloud adoption.

An IT organization might try to ignore the cloud, but it's almost certain that someone in the company is already using Salesforce, Dropbox, or some form of cloud-based marketing automation system, Dada told IT Best of Breed.

"If you're not really embracing the cloud, there still will be some cloud implications in your environment," Dada said.

The proliferation of Software-as-a-Service is almost impossible to avoid. Business divisions outside IT are provisioning their own tools, and employees are turning to unsanctioned apps, creating the challenge of managing “Shadow IT.”

"People in your company are going to the cloud, whether you want it or not," Dada said.