A recent survey of cloud computing trends found more companies view cloud computing as something that will help their business grow.  The Yankee Group Cloud Computing FastView survey probes more than 400 U.S. IT decision-makers in companies with 250 or more employees.  It includes 53 questions focused on these companies’ plans for cloud computing deployments. The Cloud Computing FastView survey includes one-time delivery of PowerPoint slides with analyst insight as well as detailed Excel and SPSS data files.

The 2010 FastView Survey, which consisted of interviews with all 400 U.S. IT leaders, discovered nearly 60 percent of respondents said they consider the cloud to enable businesses, while fewer than 40 percent say the technology has yet to, and may never, mature.

The 60 percent mark reached in this year’s survey is a substantial increase from 2009, when only 37 percent of respondents saw cloud computing as an enabler.  “Cloud computing is on the cusp of broad enterprise adoption,” said Sheryl Kingstone, research director at Yankee group and co-author of the report.

The report found “very large” enterprises are the fastest adopters of cloud computing, with many of them relying on a cloud integrator to help them transition to the the new technology.  It shows that 57% of the companies surveyed believe that Enabling technology that drives business transformation and innovation.

The move to cloud computing has been a necessity for many companies, as most businesses are looking to reduce their expenses and become more efficient as a way of battling out of the recession. Through cloud services such as SaaS, companies of all sizes have traded in traditional desktop software for a pay-as-you-go system, which offers them increased mobility and scalability. I also found it interesting that 67% said that they preferred the private cloud over any other type of cloud available at the time.