One way to succeed in meeting customer expectations is to keep close tabs on the market trends affecting client business models, and find a way to make adapting faster and easier.

That’s the approach taken by CA (News – Alert) Technologies, a provider of IT management software and solutions.

“We follow the trends that are guiding our customers,” said Adam Famularo, who heads up CA’s cloud computing division, in a recent TMCnet video interview. “What we’re hearing all the way from large enterprises down to mid-sized companies is that they’re looking for ways to leverage cloud computing to create more business efficiency.”

The increasing drive toward cloud computing is behind CA’s recently launched 3Tera AppLogic 2.9, a turnkey platform designed to help the company’s customer base (which includes telecom companies and managed service providers) quickly transition to this new model of delivering and managing IT services.

Essentially, Famularo said, CA gives its customers an on-ramp to cloud computing, in whatever way fits best with their business models.

In the video interview, Famularo stressed that the cloud is really a model rather than a “thing” as it’s often touted.

“The cloud is a model for delivering IT services, whether you use in-house or external IT services, or a hybrid,” he said.

For some of CA’s customers, the most helpful way to leverage the cloud is to build a hybrid model. Others need help managing products using a SaaS (News – Alert) environment. Still others (ostensibly MSBs) need a way to deliver their products as services.

Famularo noted that, in general, larger enterprises are more focused on hybrid models because they need to protect significant investments in traditional IT systems. Smaller companies with less IT investment are more flexible and tend to be interested in a pure-play cloud-based model.

“Cloud is the next big thing,” he added. “It is a killer model. It’s going to help customers scale their businesses without the traditional capital expenditures. It all comes down to: how do I do more with less?”

Also in the video interview, Famularo explained how 3Tera works, the verticals where CA is seeing fastest growth, and additional specifics about the company’s approach to helping customers develop or find the most appropriate solutions.