Post-COVID, businesses worldwide have been migrating their computing to the cloud. The trend shows no signs of abating. Global business spending on cloud computing infrastructure will top $1 trillion by 2024. The reasons for cloud migration now go beyond time and money savings. Most businesses embrace the cloud to become more agile and innovate better.
Here are the top cloud computing trends for 2024.
1. Hybrid and multi-cloud will become more popular.
More and more enterprises now adopt a multi-cloud strategy. They use different cloud service providers for different workloads or applications. A hybrid cloud, or a mixed computing environment with a combination of public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises data centres, is also seeing increasing uptake.
Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud approaches make enterprise systems more flexible and resilient. A hybrid cloud enables seamless integration of on-premises infrastructure with cloud resources. Businesses can tailor their cloud solutions to specific requirements. They can, for instance, use a mix of on-premises servers to meet data sovereignty requirements. But these approaches also make data governance more complex.
In 2024, the business demand for multi-cloud and hybrid cloud will increase. The number of organisations with a multi-cloud strategy will rise from 76% to 85% in 2024. Cloud providers will bring solutions that ease integration challenges and simplify data governance.
2. Cloud computing will become more democratised
Low-code and no-code solutions play a big part in the recent popularity of the cloud. These solutions allow non-technical people to create applications that previously required technical expertise.
Top cloud vendors such as AWS, Google, and Microsoft offer app development tools with easy drag-and-drop interfaces. Such tools also accept natural language input. Microsoft’s Power Platform, with its Power Apps, Power Flow, Power AI, and Power Builder, is leading the way in this space. AWS, with HoneyCode, is not far behind.
In 2024, application development will become more democratised than ever before.
3. The rise of AI-as-a-Service
The cloud allows users to access solutions based on emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain. Business users can avail of the latest solutions without investing in costly architecture and infrastructure. They can also launch quick-win/fail-fast initiatives to evaluate the benefits of these solutions.
One emerging technology that the cloud will propel big time in 2024 is Artificial Intelligence (AI). The cloud enables AI-as-a-service, which improves the accessibility and affordability of AI solutions. AI-as-a-service solutions streamline workflows, automate cloud operations, improve data management, and deliver more potent data analysis. Cutting-edge AI products will boost business functions such as marketing and customer service.
The cloud-AI combo of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools has already made a big impact. But what is available now is only the tip of the iceberg. In 2024, cloud providers will offer more AI and ML-powered services. The cloud will continue to drive innovation and present more business opportunities.
Companies such as AWS are investing heavily in cloud AI technologies. AmazonQ, for instance, a new generative AI-powered assistant, offers security and privacy that meets the most stringent enterprise needs. AWS HealthScribe transcribes clinical notes into insights within minutes.
4. The surge in cloud gaming
The cloud gaming market is soaring in popularity. Major cloud providers will increase their investment in the space. The worth of the gaming market will surge to US$11.8 billion in 2028 from US$ 1.50 billion in 2023, with a CAGR of 51.27%.
Gaming platforms such as Steam allow game producers to distribute new games easily. Of late, Stream is losing its dominant position. Other players are taking the acquisition route to expand their reach and offerings and catch up with Stream.
There is also considerable innovation taking place. Roblox, for instance, combines game creation and distribution in a single platform.
5. The rising popularity of edge computing
Edge computing involves processing information close to the data source for real-time analytics. It reduces latency and congestion, optimises network bandwidth, and boosts performance.
Consider a wearable heart monitor that tracks heart rhythms. If the wearable picks up arrhythmias from the pulse, that information needs real-time transmission. Even a few seconds of delay can make a difference between life and death. The Edge enables real-time data processing without the risk of delays due to network congestion or latency issues. Analysing the data on the device also eliminates the cost of sending this data to the cloud server and returning the same after analysis. Similar benefits exist for other use cases, such as analysing sensor data in remote environments.
The growth of the Edge has remained muted to an extent by the lack of suitable hardware. In 2024, the easy availability of smaller, more power-efficient processors coupled with the development of more memory-efficient algorithms will make the Edge more popular. The roll-out of advanced 5G networks will also make Edge viable for many applications.
Gartner predicts the Edge will account for 75% of enterprise data production and processing by 2025. The number of edge devices will reach 7.8 billion by 2030, up from 2.7 billion in 2020.
6. The increased use of use of Kubernetes and Docker
Open-source containerisation platforms such as Kubernetes and Docker simplify cloud application management. Kubernetes automates the orchestration of containerised applications. It ensures efficient resource allocation and workload management. Docker allows developers to package applications into containers. Programs become portable and run consistently across different environments.
Containerisation will increase in 2024 as businesses seek streamlined development and accelerated time-to-market.
7. The rise of serverless pay-as-you-go cloud models
In a typical cloud model, business users provision servers and pay for the number of servers they use to host their infrastructure. In a serverless model, the business pays only for the resources they use. Developers can focus on their applications without worrying about infrastructure or capacity planning. Such a pay-on-as-you-go model is cost-effective and improves scalability, reliability, and time-to-market.
The serverless pay-as-you-go cloud model will become more widespread and versatile in 2024. Serverless platforms will support a wider range of programming languages and runtimes. Developers can choose the most suitable language and framework for their applications.
The global serverless computing market will be worth $28 billion by 2028, with a CAGR of 20.8%.
8. More focus on cloud security
The threat landscape is evolving and, like all previous years, will increase in 2024. Hackers will develop new AI-powered attacks, and social engineering attacks will become harder to detect and thwart.
As businesses move more and more data, including sensitive data, to the cloud, there will be more focus on security and compliance. Cloud providers will make additional investments in encryption, authentication and disaster recovery. Robust disaster recovery solutions enable businesses to recover fast from disruptions. Also, cloud security models will co-opt the latest approaches, such as zero trust and secure Access Service Edge (SASE).
The cloud security market reach $123 billion by 2032, with a CAGR of 24.4%.
9. The rise of sustainable cloud computing
Cloud providers will become more sustainable in 2024. They will pay more attention to ESG goals and make more net-zero commitments. Such commitments will also help their customers reduce their carbon footprints. As businesses adopt green cloud computing strategies, they prefer energy-efficient cloud services.
Big cloud providers have pledged to generate 100% of the energy through renewable sources in the coming days. Amazon plans to achieve zero emissions by 2040 and Google by 2030.
10. Intensifying competition among cloud providers
The cloud computing market is becoming very competitive. Vendors compete in pricing, innovation, and offering more value-added services for customers. Transparent resource usage and per-byte cost breakdowns are fast becoming the industry standard. Cloud providers also offer advanced cost management and monitoring tools.
Conclusion
A key thrust of innovation in 2024 will be for particular vertical cloud services. Cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) will roll out common schemes, storage, governance, and security for verticals such as banking and manufacturing. Latest tools such as Amazon SageMaker studio offer new capabilities for users to maximise machine learning development productivity. Amazon QCode transformation accelerates app maintenance, migration, and upgrades in double-quick time.
