Cloud Computing has become the biggest enabler for seamless Work From Home (WFH) infrastructure. The new normal has compelled organizations to move their critical workload to the cloud so that it becomes easily accessible by employees working remotely. Cloud not only enhances virtual communication and collaboration amongst teams, but also reduces capex cost, provides agility, scalability and flexibility. Hence, it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that cloud computing is here to stay, and its adoption will only continue to rise with time.
Let’s look at five trends that will continue to transform cloud computing and drive adoption:
SaaS growth will continue – Even before COVID- 19 disrupted the organizations’ operational models, the global cloud services market was expected to see continued growth. Now, with an even greater need to empower remote work, companies will accelerate their move to the cloud as they have realized the challenges posed by on-premise infrastructure. With continued innovation of SaaS services and offerings gaining favor, and remote work becoming more mainstream, SaaS growth will remain strong.
The use of containers will increase – Many enterprises have realized the limitations of lifting and shifting the existing application stack to the cloud. To reap maximum benefits out of the cloud migration exercise, it is important for enterprises to start building cloud-native applications. Hence, microservices is increasingly replacing monolithic architecture when it comes to applications development or modernization. Microservices promote the use of containers which package software code and all its dependencies together. Containers reduce infrastructure costs, accelerate and simplify the development process, result in higher quality and reliability, and reduce complexity for deployments. They also reduce the risks of moving to the cloud and streamline cloud-to-cloud migrations.
The demand for hybrid cloud will rise – The adoption numbers of hybrid clouds are on a continuous upward curve. Hybrid cloud combines the benefits of scalability that public cloud offers with secure and superior end-user experience of the private cloud. Organizations are realizing the strengths and weaknesses of the public and private cloud, hence they are keen to opt for an option that gives them the best of both worlds. Adoption of hybrid cloud enables organizations to acquire enhanced speed, scalability, computing power and agility at lower costs.
Serverless Computing – Gartner estimated that by 2020, 20% of the world’s organizations would have gone serverless. This is hardly surprising, given the technology’s ability to lower costs, reduce operational complexity, and increase DevOps efficiencies. Serverless computing initiates a mind shift in the way businesses are run and improves the accuracy and impact of technology. It results in higher functionality, reduced cloud bills, and increased delivery speed. The benefits of serverless computing are endless, as it has the potential to limit energy consumption to have a positive impact not only on the environment but also on the overall economy.
Cost optimization will drive cloud adoption – Enterprises cannot deny the pressing need to optimize their public cloud infrastructure to become more cost effective. The rate at which applications are being migrated to the cloud, it has become imperative to bring the cloud cost under control. Hence, cloud service providers are building their native optimization capabilities to help organizations select the most optimum architecture that can deliver the required performance. In addition, the market for third-party cost optimization tools will also expand, particularly in hybrid cloud environments. Their value will concentrate on higher-quality analytics that can maximize savings without compromising performance, provide independence from cloud providers and offer hybrid cloud management consistency. In the coming years, we can see optimization becoming an integral part of cloud migration projects. Enterprises will develop skills and processes to analyze operational data and find optimization opportunities.
