2022 held unprecedented expansion and innovation for cloud computing. AI and ML-powered cloud became an essential offering from the Big 3, open source cloud continued to evolve, and multi-cloud became mainstream. As the first month of 2023 comes to a close, the cloud computing industry continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Here are my three predictions for what is on the horizon in cloud computing:
1. There will be a Continued Rise in Cloud Adoption.
Despite the pressure of inflation, many more mid-market and enterprise companies stand ready to develop and deploy cloud-native applications this year. These applications are made possible by the maturing cloud market. You can now create a more secure computing environment that can automatically scale up and down to dynamically meet your burstable workloads. It's also now possible to spin up and down cloud environments in minutes, whereas it takes months to order, receive, rack and deploy hardware and software you purchased. Companies are looking to do more with less, and the public cloud's scalability, combined with being able to rapidly provision, and de-provision compute capacity at will, means more predictable costs. This predictability over operating expenses diminishes the economic risk of innovation, allowing businesses to be as flexible as they need in the face of economic uncertainty.
2. Security Will Continue to Become More Complex and a Focus Area for Companies.
Organizations are not only focused on growth. They are putting an even stronger emphasis on customer trust. In the face of growing data breaches over the past years that resulted from cyber attacks, navigating security is more important than ever. As more companies move sensitive data and workloads to the cloud, I anticipate that security will become a top priority for organizations in 2023 with companies factoring in security earlier in their cloud adoption process. This includes securing data and ensuring compliance with various regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC2. Furthermore, an increasing number of enterprises are adopting a combination of multiple cloud providers to create a multi-cloud or hybrid environment for added flexibility and cost savings. This significantly compounds the complexity of security management. We can expect many companies to increase their cloud spending on security to build resilience in the coming year and a marked uptick in Security-as-a-Service providers.
3. We Are Still in the Early Stages of Cloud Maturity Around Automation and Monitoring.
One of cloud technology's most robust potentials is automation, which will prove a key priority for IT in 2023. The ability to nullify tedious manual tasks through automation and self-service is just the beginning. Besides its capacity to be a highly effective cost-reduction strategy during a recession, it promises easier management of hybrid environments, which are still on the rise. Hybrid cloud will prove more resilient than on-prem as automaton features like continuous monitoring can identify issues before they become problematic, and system backups can safeguard against server failures. Automation backed by ML and AI technologies will enhance security in cloud environments through automated incident response systems and threat intelligence platforms.
Overall, 2023 promises to be an exciting year for the cloud computing industry, with continued growth and innovation on the horizon. Businesses that are able to take advantage of these advancements and reduce costs through a cloud-first approach to scaling will be well-positioned to thrive in the coming year.