This last point trumps all others: "[...] on-premise infrastructure on the other-hand brews a culture of mistrust, centralization, dependency and control. [...

This last point trumps all others: "[...] on-premise infrastructure on the other-hand brews a culture of mistrust, centralization, dependency and control. [...] These difference between on-premise data centers and public clouds influence how teams think, plan and execute. These are nothing but attributes of culture." I'm currently working with a large financial services organisation that is moving to the cloud. It's incredibly painful, because of all the challenges involved in guaranteeing the safety and security of private data etc., but once these hurdles are taken once, it's incredibly liberating. The move is not just a technical one though, it requires a change of culture as well.