CIOs cite cloud's hidden costs as chief concern.

• Position: CLOUD - Chief information officers

A recent Compuware survey of chief information officers in the Americas, Europe, and Asia found that cloud computing will be the highest priority area for investment in the near future.

Current IT infrastructure spending shows that companies are exploiting cloud opportunities where they see them, which are primarily the use of the public cloud for backup, recovery, and testing--none of which directly affects the end user.

The study showed that companies are relying increasingly on the cloud to deliver business-critical applications and the supporting infrastructure that lies at the core of their business operations. E-commerce is the most commonly used cloud service; 81% of the CIOs are already using or planning to use cloud-based e-commerce platforms within the year.

As investment in cloud services increases, so do the stakes for the cloud to deliver on its promised cost savings. However, the majority of companies (79%) are concerned there will be hidden costs associated with cloud services prompted largely by poor end-user experience; 64% of the CIOs cited poor end-user experience as the most significant risk to managing the cloud.

Despite the business-critical nature of these cloud applications and the potential impact of...