Today (2 November), 35 senior business and IT personnel assembled at Altitude 360 – a stunning venue on the 29th floor of the Milbank Tower boasting panoramic views of London – to tackle some of the cloud’s burning issues at The 3rd Cloud Circle Executive Breakfast Club.

Once the coffees had suitably perked up the early risers, a slap-up full English breakfast was served. Fired up on bacon and baked beans, the day’s attendees then got down to the serious business of talking cloud.

The first session was a thought leadership presentation on ‘the role of the cloud in accelerating the consumerisation of IT', taken by InTechnology’s Richard Quine. He began by outlining the four generations of computer use. The first, he said, was the development and popularisation of the PC. This was followed by the ‘.com boom’ and then by the emergence of cloud computing services. The fourth generation is consumer IT which is the “accessing of apps, software and data through the cloud on your own personal devices.”

No sooner had Quine got into the swing of his presentation, however, than the crowd began to interject. Informed and opinionated debate, it soon became clear, was going to be the order of the day. Views differed as to how far along the evolutionary process we were – views often determined by the individual’s personal use, the sector they worked in or the specific company they worked for.

In moments of relative calm between the open floor discussions between delegates, Quine was able to continue with his presentation. He made the point that now, unlike when he started dealing with cloud computing, the question companies are asking is ‘how’ not ‘if’ they will use the cloud. Quine pointed out that mobility and agility remains a key selling point, stating that people prefer slower wireless connections to faster Ethernet connections purely because of the flexibility it offers.

Quine then ended his presentation by unveiling his crystal ball, making four predictions of what the future holds for cloud computing. Firstly, he said, talk about cloud computing will reduce as companies settle on their application and server strategy. Secondly, the market focus will move from the back-end to the user. Thirdly, organisations will have to tackle the problem of a workforce that wants to work in a radically different way to the traditional devices. And finally, this will call for a radical change in cloud service provision from a low-cost, best-effort consumer focus, to a corporate grade 100 per cent availability service.

Following on from Quine’s brave predictions the attendees moved to round table discussion sessions. Four tables covering four different topics were available for them to choose from. These included preparing for the consumerisation of IT, getting to grips with Big Data, the threats and opportunities of the mobile cloud and how to embrace and prepare for social media. An hour of healthy discussion yielded some interesting results with one representative from each of the tables presenting the results of their discussions with the rest of the attendants.

After a break for coffee and networking the delegates reformed for a second session of round table discussions. This time the four tables were covering building a data lifecycle in the cloud, building privacy and security into your cloud strategy, evaluating the maturity a vendors’ cloud security and assessing who is actually responsible for cloud security – the user or the vendor. The information was then fed back to the knowledge-hungry delegates which again illustrated how advanced, mature and productive the round table discussions had been.

Upon reflection, the strength and depth of the individuals’ knowledge at the 3rd Executive Breakfast Briefing is what made the day such a success, a point that was reiterated by delegates, sponsors and The Cloud Circle team alike. Informed discussions, healthy debate and personal insight and expertise helped create a morning filled with enriching cloud sessions.

Emma Taylor, founder and managing director of The Cloud Circle, said: “The morning proved to be a real success. These events never fail to surprise me in just how well informed the delegates who attend are, which is great because it makes for fantastic discussions sessions and conversations throughout the day.

“There is the added bonus that the sun was shining today which made the views from up here all the more breath-taking.”

Videos from the event will be posted on www.thecloudcircle.com shortly. If you'd like to attend a Cloud Circle event, please email imogen.woodward@thecloudcircle.com.