In Pictures: 20 surefire IT mistakes

14. Mismanaging your cloud strategy

Cloud computing offers a powerful value proposition: The ability to increase capacity or add capabilities without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. But jumping in blind can be much worse than missing out on the upside of the cloud. Empty promises, integration issues, and security concerns are just a few of the snafus dogging the cloud to decision, one that could mean simply upgrading to the new devil, the one you don’t know. Don’t assume you are simply relinquishing responsibility for a cranky infrastructure component or pushing a persistent headache to a cloud vendor. Far from it; when embracing the cloud, you are opening yet another avenue for blame -- one over which you may have little control. Strategize accordingly.