Cloud computing: A democratizing force?

•Cloud computing is a disruptive innovation.•The delivery of cloud computing through mobile devices will enhance its pervasiveness.•It has the potential to become a democratizing force and bridge the digital divide.

There has never been a more disruptive innovation in the IT landscape such as cloud computing since the emergence of the Web in the early 1990s. This IT delivery service has the potential to change many aspects of organizations’ operations, thinking, culture, work and their ability to control global warming. With the increasing ubiquity and pervasiveness of mobile devices, cloud computing's impact could be even greater and much wider in its reach. But this emerging innovation has many hurdles to surmount to become the “telephone” or the “water” equivalent of the IT world. An examination of these issues will be made in this article and an exploration of the empowering and democratizing credentials of cloud computing will be attempted.