Cloud computing has become the most rapidly used technology all over the world. Although cloud technology has been around for over a decade, it witnessed growth during 2020-21. Worldwide, spending by businesses on cloud computing infrastructure is forecast to top $1 trillion for the first time in 2024. This will be driven by factors such as a growing need to adopt new platforms and as-a-service offerings, including artificial intelligence (AI) services.
AI As-A-Service
Cloud infrastructure has a big role to play in making AI available to the masses, along with all the economic and social benefits that it’s expected to generate. AI models, such as the large language model (LLM) that powers ChatGPT, are trained on huge amounts of data, using vast amounts of computing power. Most businesses don’t have the resources to do this themselves, but by accessing AI-as-a-service through cloud platforms, they are able to leverage this powerful, transformative technology.
The number of large organizations with a multi-cloud strategy (i.e., they buy cloud services from more than one provider) is predicted to rise from 76% to 85% during 2024. It offers cost and flexibility advantages but adds complexity to data governance and integration with legacy systems. Multi and hybrid cloud (mixing cloud with on-premises infrastructure) are advanced infrastructure solutions that will continue to grow in popularity as administrations seek to balance security with flexibility and pick and choose the services they need.
What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing offers on-demand IT resources through the internet, like databases, storage, networking, servers, intelligence, analytics, and more. It has grown popular due to the resource flexibility it offers. Anyone can access the resources using an internet connection, regardless of location, without any hardware and infrastructure.
It is an economical way of integrating IT facilities into your organization, as businesses do not have to spend a huge amount on establishing an internal data center. Most cloud models, such as AWS by Amazon, Azure by Microsoft, etc., charge only for the virtual services they provide.
Cloud computing offers different types of services, including:
1. Software as a Service (SaaS)
SaaS refers to software applications offered by cloud computing providers that customers can use through a web browser by paying a subscription charge. For example, Custom Relationship Management (CRM) software like Salesforce and NetSuite, as well as project management tools like Zoho and Trello.
2. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
This type of cloud computing offers online virtual computer resources like servers, networking, storage, etc. IaaS enables organizations to implement and supervise their applications and services.
3. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
PaaS is a cloud computing service that equips developers with the essential tools to build, assess, and implement applications and manage the intrinsic infrastructure. It offers more control over the applications than SaaS but lesser ease of management than IaaS.
10 Emerging Cloud Computing Trends to Check Out
Considering the benefits of cloud computing, here are the top 10 Cloud computing trends businesses can utilize to transform their operations and processes.
1. Edge Computing
Edge figuring is a way of optimizing cloud network systems. These cloud network systems have emerged as one of the top trends in cloud computing. In edge computing, data is treated and analyzed at the edge of the network faster than the source of data. This facilitates data processing at enhanced speed and volume, yielding optimized results in real-time.
Edge computing offers multiple advantages, such as accelerated data transmission, increased efficiency, privacy, security, etc., which help organizations streamline and automate their operations for better performance and output.
With the rise of 5G, Edge computing has gained popularity and will take center stage in all future cloud strategies. Gartner forecasts that by 2025, around 75% of enterprise data will be processed externally away from the cloud.
2. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Platforms
AI and ML technologies are significant cloud computing trends in 2023. However, most businesses do not have the resources and funds to develop their AI and ML infrastructure. Moreover, the data collection process and algorithm training demand huge computational power and storage space. In such cases, renting AI and ML resources as cloud services is much more cost-effective.
Top organizations are exploring new ways to incorporate AI into their operations to automate processes for better output and cater to their growing business needs. As per research conducted by CISCO, 83% of executives consider AI a strategic priority when scaling their business.
Additionally, cloud service providers use AI to manage vast storage networks offered to their clients, control power and cooling systems, develop cyber security solutions to enhance data security, and more.
3. Disaster Recovery and Backup
As much as digitization helps businesses scale faster, an unforeseen crisis like a data outage, system failure, or cyber-attack can seriously impact the operations of any organization. It is common for enterprises to face huge data losses due to server crashes.
Data recovery and backup are critical aspects of cloud computing. They enable businesses to restore critical systems before they attract losses. A disaster recovery measure in cloud computing lets the systems in an organization automatically maintain data records and stack them away on external cloud servers.
4. Multi and Hybrid Cloud Solutions
This is one of the most rapidly growing cloud computing trends. Research suggests that, by 2023, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud adoption will increase by 67% and 72%, respectively. Businesses have realized that effective data management requires combining various cloud strategies instead of relying on a single cloud platform.
Multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud strategies streamline business operations by combining multiple public and private cloud platforms. This is particularly helpful for companies like insurance and banking corporations, which use data insights to enhance their business. Sticking to a single platform can often evoke challenges when a cloud service provider stops supporting an application. Hence, opting for a hybrid or multi-model offers more flexibility and ease of operation. Moreover, it also facilitates porting an application any organization uses from one platform to another platform that provides a more cost-effective solution without disrupting critical operations.
5. Cloud Security and Resilience
Although migrating to the cloud offers more convenience and efficiency, it brings critical security risks that companies cannot overlook. Increased regulations surrounding data storage and usage can also result in businesses getting penalized.
As such, cloud security and resilience against data loss due to credentials theft, data breaches, hackers attacking accounts, etc., are among the top cloud computing trends in 2023. Cloud service providers invest huge amounts of resources in developing strong security features to safeguard client data and address cyber-security challenges. Companies are also exploring cost-effective cloud services with rigid security protocols to ascertain data security.
This will result in the extensive use of AI and predictive tools to identify potential cyber threats and an increased inclination toward managed ‘security-as-a-service’ providers.
6. Cloud Gaming
Cloud technology has helped the growth of entertainment-related streaming services like Netflix and Spotify. This technology is now emerging in the gaming world as well, with giants like Microsoft, Sony, Nvidia, and Amazon stepping up to offer streaming services for video games.
7. Kubernetes & Docker
Kubernetes and Docker are container orchestration tools that are recently emerging as popular cloud computing trends. Kubernetes is an open-source platform that powers operational tasks like deploying, scaling, and monitoring containerized applications. Docker Facilitates the packaging of applications developed to run on multiple platforms into containers.
These technologies will shape cloud architecture in the upcoming years. Many companies are choosing Kubernetes and Docker to handle their cloud installations, facilitating highly scalable and efficient massive deployments.
8. Serverless Computing
A serverless architecture helps enterprises eliminate typical barriers like high maintenance costs, latency in deployment and scaling, etc., created by traditional IT infrastructure. It offers more than computing resources as a service so that organizations only have to pay for the resources they use.
Organizations do not have to install and maintain physical data processing servers and can rely extensively on third parties to do the job. Serverless computing accelerates infrastructure tasks like scheduling, provisioning, scaling, etc., allowing developers to focus on their core tasks. These days, serverless computing is getting extremely popular due to the many advantages it offers, such as:
- Seamless operations
- Minimized liability
- Zero requirements of infrastructure management
- Improved offline experience
- Cost-effective
9. DevSecOps
While cloud computing simplifies tasks and speeds up operations, it poses several security risks that cannot be neglected. These include hacking, network eavesdropping, cloud-service abuse, virtual susceptibilities, side-channel attacks, and more. Data security is a huge reason businesses doubt the adoption of cloud solutions.
However, DevSecOps is one of the key cloud computing trends that offers a solution to this massive challenge. It basically refers to development, security, and operations, a system offering infrastructure security at every point in the software development lifecycle, right from the beginning. It focuses on automating core security tasks by embedding all the controls throughout the workflow. DevSecOps will be central to the growth of cloud computing in the future as it will offer uniform security throughout its lifecycle.
10. Low-Code and No-Code Cloud Services
People are naturally attracted to tools and platforms that allow them to build data-centric solutions for problems and create applications without writing computer codes. These low-code and no-code solutions consist of platforms for building websites, web applications, or any other type of digital solution a company may need. They are also helping users build AI-assisted applications, another reason behind their increasing popularity.
Moreover, these low-code and no-code services are provided through the cloud. So users do not need any robust infrastructure to access them. Some examples include Airtable, Zoho, Figma, etc., which enable users to perform tasks like website design, spreadsheet automation, and more, which earlier required coding knowledge.
conclusion
In recent years, there has been an immense rise in cloud adoption. Companies now use cloud solutions to enhance their digital products, and the cloud-first approach has taken center stage. Businesses look forward to innovations that drive them to master and adopt cloud solutions. As such, familiarizing yourself with the top cloud computing trends will help your organization embrace leading cloud solutions and stay on top of the game.
