6 Top Cloud Computing Trends For 2018

“The interesting thing about cloud computing is that we’ve redefined cloud computing to include everything that we already do.” – Larry Ellison,  Executive Chairman and Chief Technology Officer, Oracle.

We still save data to the cloud to manage or process it in future but the use of cloud computing is continuously evolving and it’s not a mere platform anymore. Wikipedia states that Cloud computing has ubiquitous access to shared pools of configurable system resources and higher-level services that can be rapidly provisioned with minimal management effort, often over the Internet. The advent of this shared pool has significantly changed not only personal cloud storage but also in organizations.

Along with being cost-efficient, a few other advantages of cloud computing applications in businesses are simplified IT management & maintenance, built-in security, and easily deployable models. Enterprises are thus striving to make the most out of it to accomplish their business goals. Here is a compiled list of hot trends in Cloud Computing that businesses should prepare for in 2018.

Trend #1
Cloud Computing: Service Model Redefined

Cloud computing is a business model where service providers take care of the complete infrastructure & software requirements of the customer in a customized environment. It’s only obvious that with the evolution of cloud computing, cloud services and solutions will also grow. Software as a Service (SaaS) is predicted to grow at an 18% CAGR by 2020, and Platform as a Service (PaaS) with an 56% adoption in 2020, which was 32% in 2017*.  Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) will have a market of $17.5 billion worldwide in 2018.

With the adoption of enterprise cloud services, use of cloud-based file sharing services will increase, and consumer cloud services will grow. Amazon leads Microsoft, IBM, Google and other tech giants in cloud computing. Amazon Web Services (AWS) will reach $43B in revenue by 2022*.

Trend #2
Hybrid Cloud Solutions

Cloud-to-cloud connectivity will be on the rise in 2018. A cloud computing environment which combines a public cloud and a private cloud by allowing data and applications to be shared between them is termed a hybrid cloud. Now multiple cloud providers are opening up APIs on Platforms to connect multiple solutions as businesses do not prefer a single cloud provider. APIs help to sync multidisciplinary and cross-functional processes.

To meet business needs, organizations will connect to cloud-based solutions with heavy customization and keep their on-premise solutions. On-premise is a much better option for network security when it comes to controlling the data flow.

Trend #3
Crowd Sourced Storage

Traditional cloud storage is not secure, slow, and expensive, hence 2018 is going to be more into storage services like Google Drive and DropBox. Enterprises are also using this type of storage to generate more data. For example, Google and Amazon are giving free cloud storage to crowdsource data for applications like big data, data analytics, and artificial intelligence.

Trend #4
Cloud Security Vulnerabilities

It is quite a transparent fact that increased use of cloud-based services will make them more vulnerable. The worldwide information security spending is expected to reach $93B in 2018 compared to $86.4B in 2017*. With security issues to prevail in near future, the cloud industry can expect more cybersecurity companies coming up with new cloud security options. Bringing automation, speed, and integration with cloud security services can redefine the cloud security approach.

Trend #5
Internet of Things (IoT) and the Cloud

The cloud and the Internet of things (IoT) are inseparable as IoT requires cloud to work and execute.  IoT is a set of fully managed and integrated services that allows businesses to connect, manage, and ingest IoT data from globally dispersed devices at a large scale, process and analyze that data in real time, and implement operational changes and take actions as needed. The hype and growing adoption of intelligent agents like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant has definitely opened enterprises’ eyes to IoT opportunity and thus the cloud usage will continue to increase along with IoT.

Trend #6
Serverless Cloud Computing

One of the main benefits of cloud is the ease of pay-per-use consumption model. It is more evident in serverless cloud computing. For 2018 and beyond, it is forecast that serverless security and analytics functionality will become more mainstream for functions like virus scanning etc.

Serverless applications will enable as-you-go pay model for businesses focused on cyber security and malware protection. Triggered logs,  packet capture analysis, and flow information using serverless infrastructure will become more common and will allow SME businesses the same scale benefits and flexibility like large scale businesses due to as-you-go pay model.

*With inputs from Market Research reports from Bain & Company, KPMG, Statista, Wikibon, and Gartner

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