Enterprises embrace the cloud in large numbers as the benefits become more and more evident. Here are some cloud priorities and strategies for tech decision-makers in 2020, to get the best results out of the cloud.
Building and Maturing Next-Gen Cloud-Based Solutions
IT teams have been building cloud-based systems for some time now. The priority for the cloud will continue in 2020. IT teams will continue to move existing on-premises assets to the cloud, and build new cloud-based applications.
Today’s developers leverage cloud platforms to deliver flexible and intuitive business capabilities. About 32% of enterprise workloads are already in the cloud. Another 12% of workloads will move to the cloud within the next 12 months, taking cloud-based workloads closer to 50%.
By the end of 2020, almost one in three tech companies will invest in cloud-only software. This indicates a shift from the hitherto dominant cloud-first approach. As cloud services mature, about 60% of enterprises will use an external service provider’s cloud-managed service offering by 2022. This is again a quantum jump from the 30% adoption rate in 2018.
Tech decision-makers will do well to keep expectations realistic. As the popularity of the cloud grows, expectations also become higher.
A perfect cloud solution has not arrived. Tech decision-makers find themselves saddled with many cloud solution partners. They end up choosing different providers for different services or solutions. Enterprise tech faces a big challenge reconciling relationships with multiple cloud service providers. They have to ensure the seamless sync of these cloud systems with incumbent enterprise systems.
Cloud-based solutions reduce complexity, streamline operations, and accelerate speed-to-market. But fresh investments in the cloud are still costly. The switch over involves going through the pangs of change. Faced with limited budgets and conflicting priorities, tech decision-makers give priority to investments offering the maximum ROI. They may also consider investments delivering on customer satisfaction or internal efficiencies.
Hybrid Cloud Becomes Popular
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The appealing “pay as you use” pricing model of cloud service providers tempts most tech decision-makers. However, they are wising up to the rising cloud price in the long term. The bill starts to bite the enterprise when the number of users and the quantity of data over the outsourced cloud increases. Increasing cloud spend also comes with add-ons that tech decision-makers may not have considered upfront.
Storing and moving data to and from the cloud costs money. In the age of Big Data, the quantity of data bites the finances of any enterprise hard. The increasing size of business-critical data also raises mobility and latency issues.
Decision-makers deploy on-premises cloud infrastructure, to overcome such issues, and get the best of both worlds. The business maintains business-critical data in the on-premises cloud. They shift less sensitive data over the private cloud. They may even move public data such as marketing information to the public cloud. Such hybrid deployments will rise in 2020. Decision-makers have a task on their hands, to classify the data worthy of retaining in-house.
The Move to Cloud-Based Infrastructure
The Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) market will be worth $50 billion in 2020. The y-o-y growth rate of 24% is the highest among all cloud market segments.
Several factors fuel the increasing popularity of IaaS.
- Today’s applications place huge and often varying workloads on infrastructure.
- Many enterprises are unable to factor in the fast pace of change and the diversity of technology on offer.
- The typical enterprise wastes about 30% of its technology spend. The pressure on margins force tech decision-makers to take a close look at their investments and reduce such wastage.
In 2020, more and more enterprises will invest in hybrid architectures. The architecture will span multiple clouds, the edge and on-premises data centres.
There is also a tendency among decision-makers to start afresh. Developing a new cloud-based solution from scratch reduces complexity, and allows easy integration. Many decision-makers consider such an option more viable than managing complex change. They would use the opportunity to do a comprehensive overhaul of their systems.
Focus on Security
Many enterprise stakeholders believe moving to cloud compromises security. Enterprises retaining sensitive data on-premises reinforces this belief. But Gartner predicts public cloud infrastructure workloads to have 60% fewer security incidents, compared to traditional data centres, in 2020.
One of the priorities for IT managers in 2020 is to lay down best practices for the cloud and make sure employees embrace such best practices. Such best practices reinforce the security deployments in place and add to network security.
Developing Cloud-Savvy Talent
Implementing an effective cloud strategy requires individuals with good expertise in cloud architecture. They will also need a good understanding of how the cloud affects data and analytics.
Such talent is hard to come by, and costly. To overcome the talent crunch, smart IT leaders focus on skill development. They identify employees with basic skills and invest in them.
In 2020, large enterprises will look at establishing a cloud centre of excellence (CCOE).
The global public cloud services market will grow by 17% in 2020. In value terms, it will touch $266.4 billion, up from an estimated $227.8 billion in 2019. The figure is set to rise further to $331 billion by 2022. Cloud adoption has become mainstream, and it is up to enterprises to make the most out of it.
