As cloud computing grows, so do the misconceptions. And Gartner believes it can debunk the top 10 ten cloud myths for businesses and channel partners.

IT research firm Forrester estimates that the public cloud services market will reach $191 billion by 2020. With that being said, there will be a lot of vendors pushing their own agendas — and that doesn’t mean what they’ll be touting will be the most accurate information available in the market. Vetting out the inconsistencies will be an ongoing process for channel partners.

Here’s Gartner’s list of top 10 cloud computing myths.

1. Cloud is always cheaper.

This isn’t always the case, Gartner says. Sure, saving money with cloud is a benefit, but leading with money isn’t always the best way to go about selling cloud. “Assuming that the cloud always saves money can lead to career-limiting promises,” Gartner explains. “Saving money may end up one of the benefits, but it should not be taken for granted.”

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2. It’s not good unless it’s cloud.

Don’t get caught in the trap many IT organizations are falling into. “Some cloud washing is accidental and a result of legitimate confusion, but some is also based on a mistaken mantra (fed by hype) that something cannot be good unless it is cloud,” Gartner says.

3. He gets a cloud! She gets a cloud! We all get clouds!

Cloud shouldn’t be used for everything. “Clearly, there are some use cases where there is a great fit, however, not all applications and workloads benefit from the cloud,” Gartner says. “Unless there are cost savings, moving a legacy application that doesn’t change is not a good candidate.”

4. Your CEO has a cloud strategy. 

Many companies don’t have a cloud strategy. In fact, they normally just recite back what the CEO wants. “This is not a cloud strategy,” Gartner says. “A cloud strategy begins by identifying business goals and mapping potential benefits of the cloud to them, while mitigating the potential drawbacks.”

5. Multiple cloud vendors isn’t the way to go.

Cloud is too broad to break everything into one offering. “Those goals and benefits are different in various use cases and should be the driving force for businesses, rather than any attempts to standardize on one offering or strategy,” Gartner says.

6. Cloud can’t be secured.

Let’s get something straight: “Cloud computing is perceived as less secure.” But that only means there’s a trust issue with cloud. “To date, there have been very few security breaches in the public cloud — most breaches continue to involve on-premises data center environments” Gartner says. “While cloud providers should have to demonstrate their capabilities, once they have done so there is no reason to believe their offerings cannot be secure.”

7. Mission critical apps need not apply.

Adopt cloud when it’s needed. It’s not an end-all, be-all strategy. “Therefore, it is not surprising that early use cases are mainly not for mission-critical systems,” the IT research firm says. “However, many organizations have progressed beyond early use cases and experimentation and are utilizing the cloud for mission-critical workloads.”

8. Data center does not mean cloud.

“Most cloud decisions are not (and should not be) about completely shutting down data centers and moving everything to the cloud,” Gartner says. “Nor should a cloud strategy be equated with a data center strategy.”

9. Cloud migrations inherit all cloud characteristics.

“Cloud attributes are not transitive,” the IT research firm says. “Distinguish between applications hosted in the cloud from cloud services.” This mean you might not necessarily inherit cloud characteristics from infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

10. Virtualization is not the same thing as private cloud.

Yes, virtualization is commonly used to enable cloud computing, but it’s not the only way. “Even if virtualization is used (and used well), the result is not cloud computing,” Gartner says. “This is most relevant in private cloud discussions where highly virtualized, automated environments are common and, in many cases, are exactly what is needed.”

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