Cloud computing is a field of technology is constantly evolving and adapting. What trends can businesses expect to see in 2023?
Cloud computing has become an integral part of many businesses’ strategy. It’s potential for improving operational efficiency and reducing long-term IT overheads has been an attractive selling point for many years. Business predictions for the coming year have been somewhat pessimistic – with many organisations expected to reduce budgets and narrow their focus to investments with a more reliable and consistent return. The current trends for cloud computing reflect that, as there seems to be an emphasis an strategic implementation of cloud solutions, and a demand for more bespoke applications of the technology. We discussed this with TechQuarters, an organisation that provides IT support Financial Services companies (as well as many other sectors) rely on; they confirmed that much of the attention within the cloud computing world is on driving efficiency and maximising the impact of cloud services. So, what trends can businesses expect to see in the cloud computing world this year?
- AI-Powered Cloud
By far the most popular form of cloud environment is the public cloud environment, which is provided to the end-user/organisation by tech companies like Microsoft (with Microsoft Azure), IBM (with IBM Cloud), and Google (Google Cloud Platform). These platforms serve thousands of organisations all around the world, so you can imagine that their operations are vast and highly complex – they have distributed networks comprising of vast datacentres all around the world; each datacentre may be several times larger than a standard football field.
As demand for public cloud services grow, public cloud providers will definitely be searching for ways to make the management of their infrastructure easier. One of the ways that has already gained traction is by leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to make the management of datacentres and networks easier – the technologies are powerful enough to maintain complex automation capabilities, and draw insights to inform the way that systems are managed.
- Multicloud Infrastructure
There are many different cloud platforms out there – and within the different cloud platforms, there are different services available. Furthermore, the different services within the different platforms have different advantages. The choice for businesses to partner with a specific platform can feel overwhelming. However, a multicloud approach to infrastructure could negate those difficult choices entirely.
Multicloud is the principle of using multiple different cloud platforms and services in conjunction with one another. According to TechQuarters – whose experience providing IT support for Estate Agents has seen them work with cloud computing for over a decade – a multicloud infrastructure can enable businesses to add redundancy and more security to their network, because multicloud allows organisations to pick the ‘best of breed’ cloud services, and mix and match them to meet their needs.
- Modern Hybrid Cloud
Hybrid Cloud refers to when a business uses a combination of public cloud services, private cloud, and on-premise infrastructure (i.e. servers, datacentres, etc.) together to form a hybrid infrastructure. This is another instance where businesses can mix and match solutions based on what their needs are. Hybrid cloud has been around for a little while now, but the modern class of hybrid cloud setups are pushing the boundaries of what can be expected. Some of the solutions that are driving the modern hybrid cloud trend include:
- VPNs and VPCs – Traditionally, private clouds are hosted on the site of the organisation that built it. Now, however, a private cloud can be built and maintained on virtual private networks (VPNs), and virtual private clouds (VPCs)
- Third-party infrastructure – Some companies are now offering datacentre infrastructure for rental; allowing businesses to build their private clouds off-site.
As an IT support provider London businesses have been working with since 2010, TechQuarters has seen the development of hybrid cloud; and according to them, these new flexible options are likely to make the adopting of cloud computing easier for many businesses that are still on-premises.
