IDG came out with its enterprise cloud computing survey recently, and we can pull some strong pieces of advice from the results.

Some of the survey's findings confirm what the industry already knows. Investment in cloud is growing; cloud implementation is increasing IT flexibility and responsiveness.

In both investment and implementation, there's room for substantial additional growth, but IDG warns that it has to be managed properly by service providers, as well as vendors.

The survey concludes that service providers that want to be considered a valued partner must be on the top of their game when it comes to creating and communicating security policies.

Vendors must demonstrate an ability to deliver consistent performance and availability.

IDG's Enterprise Cloud Computing Survey is available here.