Originally posted on ComputerWorld

Companies are shifting resources to the cloud for a variety of reasons: efficiency, cost, analytics, customer service, etc. While these are worthy goals, there’s a more fundamental objective that companies leveraging the cloud should strive for: unlocking the collective brainpower of your workforce and customer base.

While the term “social” means different things to different people, at the heart of the concept lies an understanding that people are the organisation’s most valuable asset.

In a truly “social” business, technology implementations – be they cloud, mobile or social media – all support the ability of your workforce to collaborate, innovate and remain agile.

To offer a techy twist on James Carville’s famous election season adage, when it comes to maximising cloud investment, it’s the people, stupid, that ultimately determine the value of your implementation.

How smart, or stupid, then, are today’s cloud-dwelling companies?

If …