Exactly right, and that is the problem. Sales people say "Cloud" as some kind of cureall.

"I need to make coffee. To the Cloud!"

Like any kind of IT solution, a GOOD sales person will ask what it is you wish to do, what problem it is you wish to fix, and so on and then see how or even if some form of a "cloud" will be of assistance.

In fact, if the sales person DOESN'T ask you that, if they just go "You will buy this, it will hyperstimulate the synergy of your Single Pane of Glass OSS/BSS application pool.", then tell them to take a hike as they clearly don't care about your business enough to find out anything about it.

Then of course any IT professional worth their salt should do a risk analysis to see if the benefits are there (including as you say: does this company look like they are a stayer).

It's the same discussion as hosted backup solutions in the past and i'm sure it will happen again in the future for some new technology (crystals!)

🙂