The cloud has come a long way since its inception in the early 2000s. Cloud computing has revolutionized how we store, manage and access data, providing businesses with unprecedented scalability and flexibility in their operations. With the cloud’s evolution continuing to progress, staying on top of the latest trends is essential to remain competitive. From the emergence of the edge cloud to integrating AI and ML into cloud services, several 2023 cloud trends will be crucial for businesses to stay ahead of the game. So let’s take a closer look.
By 2025, Gartner predicts 75% of enterprise-generated data will be created and processed outside a traditional data center or cloud. However, this doesn’t mean that the edge will displace cloud computing. In reality, the edge and cloud will work hand in hand.
The Edge Cloud brings the cloud experience to your apps and data, regardless of where they reside. It offers a consistent user experience with security as a critical component of its design. And it allows organizations to pursue new business opportunities with point-and-click simplicity to provision new services and easy scalability to meet changing business demands.
Edge Cloud offers a unified experience with the same agility, simplicity, and pay-per-use flexibility across an organization’s entire hybrid IT estate. As a result, organizations no longer have to make compromises to run their mission-critical apps, and vital enterprise data services can leverage both on-premises resources and the public cloud.
Serverless computing is redefining how enterprises build, consume and integrate cloud-native applications. However, the phrase “serverless computing” is a misnomer: while the technology eliminates the need for infrastructure provisioning and management, it does not eliminate the need for servers.
Serverless computing enables developers to create applications without worrying about managing infrastructure. This means developers don’t have to bother with provisioning and maintaining system and application infrastructure when deploying code, enabling agility, elasticity and cost-effectiveness.
Multi-cloud adoption will be a significant 2023 cloud trend. According to Gartner, 81% of organizations work with two or more public cloud providers. While multiple clouds can create more complexity when managing configuration, companies can use the best possible cloud for each workload.
Moreover, a multi-cloud approach ensures that organizations don’t become locked into a single cloud vendor’s services, infrastructure, and pricing model, giving companies more flexibility to optimize costs and speed and minimize the risk of downtime and data loss.
Cloud security is a complex and multifaceted issue, and without proper planning and implementation, companies are left vulnerable to a wide range of cyber threats.
For example, 98% of organizations have experienced at least one cloud data breach in the last 18 months. More alarmingly, 67% reported over three cloud data breaches in the same period.
Robust cloud security will continue to be one of the top cloud trends as more and more critical data moves to the cloud and more stringent regulations are put forth to protect it. As a result, we’ll see more organizations shift to a proactive security approach to reduce the risk of costly data breaches, compliance failures and downtime. However, as more companies look to cut costs in the face of a predicted economic recession, the search for innovative and cost-efficient cybersecurity solutions will increase, highlighting the need for managed security services in 2023.
Another top 2023 cloud trend is Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). Over the last year, the popularity of SASE skyrocketed, primarily driven by the shift to working remotely, which for many companies, has become permanent. Secure Access Service Edge is a network architecture that improves remote access by combining software-defined wide area network (WAN) functions with cloud-native network security assets. These assets include secure web gateways, firewalls as a service, zero-trust network access, and cloud access security brokers.
According to a recent cloud research report, sustainability is a core consideration for IT decision-makers across 74% of enterprises when shaping their cloud strategies.
As a result, the hyperscale cloud providers – Microsoft, Amazon, and Google – have all pledged to decarbonize their data centers.
For example, the adoption of Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability is proliferating. It helps organizations identify opportunities to replace tools, systems, and activities with more efficient options, track and minimize the environmental footprint of operational systems and processes and enhance accountability across your value chain, from sourcing materials through product distribution.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will also play a significant role in 2023 cloud trends. Worldwide, spending by governments and businesses on AI technology will top $500 billion in 2023, according to IDC research. Since few companies have the resources to manage their own AI infrastructure, AI and ML provided as cloud services will continue to grow in 2023.
Gathering data and training algorithms require vast amounts of storage space and computing power that is generally better to rent as-a-service to maximize ROI. It provides organizations with the necessary resources without a huge upfront investment and offers the flexibility to scale up or down, depending on your current needs.
Furthermore, cloud service providers will increasingly turn to AI for several tasks. For example, to manage the vast, distributed networks needed to provide storage resources to their customers, regulate the power and cooling systems in data centers, and power cyber security solutions that keep their data safe.
Today, most organizations know they must opt for cloud migration to scale their operations, improve efficiencies and reduce costs. However, no matter where you are on your cloud journey, staying up-to-date on the latest cloud trends and innovative technology is critical to maximizing ROI and staying ahead of the competition.
