Recent economic pressures have resulted in increased requirements for the availability, scalability and efficiency of enterprise IT solutions. Many parties claim that “cloud computing” can help enterprises meet the increased requirements of lower TCO, higher ROI, increased efficiency, dynamic provisioning and utility-like services. However, many IT professionals are citing the increased risks associated with trusting information assets to the cloud as something that must be clearly understood and managed by relevant stakeholders. This presentation examines the potential business benefits, risks and assurance considerations.