Cloud is finally starting to move beyond the hype and into the very fabric of today’s enterprise. Most organizations are adopting cloud computing in a piecemeal fashion with a growing trend towards moving core business functions into the cloud. However some organizations are holding out on adoption either because privacy, security or compliance seems like insurmountable barriers or they expect market maturity in terms of data management and management of multiple cloud providers. What cloud providers and consumers must recognize is that in order to reap the full benefits of cloud solutions, their adoption strategy must be aligned with a comprehensive risk management approach which looks beyond developing security policies, satisfying internal audits or contractual obligations.