Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.

The question in the headline is not a simple one, but before answering it, you need to know the answers to some other questions: What kind of cloud is best for my company? What does my company need? Let us discuss them.

What kind of cloud is best for my company?

There are two major different kinds of clouds: public and private. The basic difference between them is where the systems are located. In public cloud computing, you don’t know where the systems are, meaning you don’t know the location of the data centers. You pay only for the systems you use, as a service, and you access all of them through the Internet.

For private cloud, you have your own cloud. To build it, you need a data center and a team to manage it as well as many other things to support your own data center. All your users will access your systems using the Internet and in some cases, will pay for the use.

In general, private clouds have better total cost of ownership (TCO) than public clouds and have better security as well, but you need a structure and strong sponsors.

So, what is your company like? Your answer will show you which path to follow.

What does my company need?

If your company is growing fast, or purchasing other companies, and you don’t have time to wait for IT, or it takes too long to make IT decisions, public cloud is probably better for you.

But, if IT has strong support at your company, and IT is linked with company strategies and has a good structure, then private cloud is probably the right choice.

It’s also important to note that mixing the two is possible! If you have a good structure and your company doesn’t like outsourcing strategy but needs to grow IT fast because for instance, your company has acquired another firm, you can maintain the original structure and link to it with a public cloud. This strategy is called hybrid cloud.

So, is cloud for me?

I think cloud is for everybody because you can use cloud strategy in the way that best fits your company.

Aldo Navarro Zuquini Junior is IT general manager at Brazilian Grupo Águia Branca