The Future of Cloud: Expert Insights on What’s Next for the Cloud

 

Nearly every organization today has embedded cloud computingOpens a new window technology into its ecosystem to secure services quickly and easily. Businesses are innovating to fulfill their business goals. These businesses will continue to expand in the future with the help of cloud computing. From automation to running technology led projects, a cloud-first strategy will be essential for businesses.

A few experts are of the opinion that the cloud should be used as an innovation platform, while others say the focus should be on developing localized cloud services.

Here’s what seven industry experts have to say on the rapidly maturing cloud industry and where it is headed:

What’s Next for Cloud Computing?

Talking to Toolbox, Shailesh Shukla, Vice President, Product Management, Google CloudOpens a new window , says that even if the cloud plays a central role in data processing and storage, the future of cloud and data storage is changing rapidly. “Cloud computing – whether you are buyer, user or engineer – is about freeing applications from worrying about the when, where and how of deployment, management and scaling,” he adds.

He points out that, “Reliability and up-time are just as critical in today’s customer-first environment where one minute of downtime has long-term effects on your reputation and bottom line.” In addition, a huge area of emerging importance and investment by cloud providers is the ability to seamlessly support deployment of workloads on-premise, in the cloud, and across public clouds, he says.

The move to the future in the next decade will involve an overhaul of cloud services and infrastructure. While the old cloud systems will continue to be updated, the new cloud will be an amalgamation of innovation and new technologies such as AI and machine learning, where processing data seamlessly in the cloud will be the focus for most cloud providers.

“Running on-premises IT services and local storage will become the exception, due to the cost and business risk. Common issues with on-premise services and infrastructure include DR/backup, service availability, service capacity, staff required to run and monitor the services, and available data center capacity for expansion. These issues can be eliminated or greatly simplified by leveraging a cloud platform,” says Matt MaloneyOpens a new window , Senior Director, Technology Agility Strategy at FlexeraOpens a new window – a leading computer software company, in an exclusive chat.

Industry leader and cloud expert, Gregor Petri,Opens a new window Vice President at GartnerOpens a new window , agrees that going forward the function of cloud will be defined beyond “lifting and shiftingOpens a new window ” existing applications. He adds, “… supporting services, like voice, search and databases and many of those will be best supported by the cloud, rather than traditional hardware.”

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Cloud Computing Future Predictions

What does all this mean? “It means having a digital cloud-based core in place benefits from all the new technologies now on their way – i.e. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Internet of Things, Chatbots, Digital Assistants and more,” predicts Lucy ThorpeOpens a new window , Technology and Business Writer, In Cloud SolutionsOpens a new window , speaking to Toolbox.

Disruptive technologies like containers, Kubernetes, Istio and Knative will make it viable to build manageable, scalable cloud services, explains Chen GoldbergOpens a new window , Director of Engineering at GoogleOpens a new window to Toolbox. “As these technologies and platforms mature, the barrier to build enterprise-ready cloud services will decline, fueling the growth of a rich cloud services ecosystem,” she believes.

During the next decade, the focus on disruption will transform the cloud industry. Ten years is a long time and the possibility for change in technologies is enormous. New providers are going to bubble up and challenge established players in the cloud industry to address the needs of a growing mobile workforce in the gig economy.

“We’re likely to see the three big players, Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud remain as the most commonly recognized cloud hosting brands and they will continue to refine their offerings and become as familiar as the leading fast food brands. However, niche providers will emerge with very distinctive offerings either in terms of application hosting or region-specific support,” confirms Clinton JonesOpens a new window , Technical Consultant, Jones AssociatesOpens a new window to Toolbox.

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Potential of Cloud Computing

“There can be no doubt that the cloud in its various forms is here to stay and is already ubiquitous,” affirms Clinton.

“The rise of the mobile workforce, real-time collaboration, and the explosion in the volume of data has driven cloud storage adoption. Mobile workers can keep data in sync wherever they are, knowing that their data is backed up and accessible from any device they need,” adds Matt.

Whereas government regulations will also play a major role in defining how cloud could be used in the future. Venkataragavan Ramasamy, Chief Operating Officer of FileCloudOpens a new window weighs in exclusively to Toolbox on how cloud computing will be regulated soon and what’s the role of governments here. He expects more government regulations (like data residency, privacy, GDPR) to impact cloud providers. “Living in an information economy, national governments are becoming increasingly concerned with a few large players monopolizing the cloud infrastructure space. To counter, they will wield regulatory weapons,” he believes.

Another factor, for transformation in cloud services will be performance. “Slow performance may cause users to leverage local storage, which puts the business at risk in terms of data loss and possible security breachesOpens a new window . Some applications may not function correctly if the performance of the cloud storage solution isn’t enough,” explains Matt.

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Closing Thoughts for Techies

Cloud computing is cost-effective, and it can be used by businesses to grow at scale. “Cloud technology also allows us to automate repetitive tasks. By focusing on the exceptions rather than the processes which follow the rules, we free up employee time which can be spent on higher value activities,” says Lucy.

Lastly, a cloud management platform (CMP) will become a must-have requirement for any business running in the hybrid cloud, says Matt. He adds, “From cloud cost optimization to continuous governance and self-service, a CMP is necessary to ensure IT is delivering the maximum value out of both private and public cloud services, while enabling IT to keep up with the speed of cloud innovation.”

The cloud is definitely here to stay!

Where do you think cloud computing is headed? Let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you.