Cloud Computing Predictions, Revisted

All right, I'm going to strike the tentative tone that had crept into one of my predictions for cloud computing in 2009. When I read about the success of Marketo, Central Desktop, and others SaaS vendors, I can more evidence of young SaaS vendors racking up impressive sales by solving important business problems. So I'm revising prediction #4 to read:

Small vendors who apply their domain expertise to bring the power and convenience of cloud computing to business areas underserved by IT, can gain market traction and growing a profitable business by delivering exceptional operational business value to customers.

I still believe that, as one commenter to this blog put it, "PaaS is a tough nut to crack." But SaaS offerings that are focused and immediately useful should have a very good 2009. Which, of course, is wonderful news.