Cloud has become core of every organizational business strategy and is most talked about terminology in year 2018. With advent of new services, models, organizations have taken a deep dive into leveraging on cloud to meet their business goals. Existing footprints expanded, with intent to maximize revenue and provide efficient services to their end customers.

Services are offered in variety of models like SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, etc. which provides flexibility to organizations to choose what fits their pockets and strategies. New avenues opened with far-reaching impact on consumers ranging for commodities, social, IoT, Connected Device, Smart homes, Cars etc. It is no longer restricted to SMB enterprises, but managed its reach into large enterprise, institutions Government bodies, Utilities etc. opening up potential opportunities never thought earlier.

As per IDG enterprise Cloud Survey, year 2018 saw 73% of organizations using at least one cloud service or host of services while additional 12% are planning to take the plunge in another year or so.

Cloud computing posted set of challenges too in 2018 for consumers ranging to TCO, Security, fitment, integration, migration etc. Year 2018 also witnessed a high proliferation in thefts, malwares and hacking incidents resulting in high impacts running in billions with economic, political and reputational damages.

The laws and regulations became stricter forcing organizations to bring in series of control beyond traditional security to ensure confidentiality, privacy and integrity of end consumers.

As per Right scale 2018 state of Cloud Report-Year 2019 will be year of cloud computing!!!

We would see a quantum leap in adoption of cloud services across the board. The new strategies will have learnings incorporated from past, smart processes to address security regulations, relevant business models considering changed environment dynamics etc. and a far more cautious, meaningful, relevant strategic approach towards cloud.

• Launch of new services - Expect exciting, new set of services to be made available for end consumer in IoT, Connected Ecosystem, Smart Communities, etc., at press of button over existing mobility platform. Many companies have their roadmap ready and are in final stages of launch.

• Security will be at core of every cloud services. Both services providers and consumers will have to take a re-look into security postures considering regulatory framework, its impact and how the consumer data can be protected in “acceptable” way. Transparency, Confidentiality and Integrity of information/data will take higher precedence in overall strategic footprint.

• Increased adoption of Hybrid Cloud model - Enterprise today have a far better experience in understanding the fine prints behind cloud and that it’s not always public cloud that works best. They may not be ready to go completely into cloud and hence hybrid strategy would evolve enabling organization to be selective on what they want to go on cloud and what should not.

• GDPR and countries regulations - Practical implementation of GDPR is far from reality and only handful of organizations today understand what changes or impacts GDPR brings in. This potentially opens up revenue opportunities for security firms, which will see a significant increase in customer engagements and services to plug necessary gaps.

• Artificial Intelligence and Edge Computing - Data is biggest asset for organizations today and it opens avenue to understand their customer better and develop far more intelligent apps or services. AI will play a major role in edge computing providing valuable insights, trends and patterns to organizations.

• Multiple Cloud Management and Seamless migrations - Organizations today are challenged by movement across cloud platforms with skill constraints and cost implications. I expect that lot of agile solutions will be made available for customers to ensure glitch free movement across various platforms.

• Big Players will consolidate Position - Year 2019 will see start of cloud consolidation business with big players like Amazon, Google and Microsoft acquiring smaller players and move towards consolidating the overall market setting trend for only 3-4 players operating globally.

Exciting times are ahead. Be ready for new set of challenges!

Nonetheless, 2019 will be a new chapter in cloud computing business. An organization should take holistic and wider parameters at their business strategies, existing infrastructure, workflows, and future aspirations and formulate clear benchmarking as to see what should go on cloud and what does not. More businesses and their leaders would acknowledge cloud technology for the benefits like ease of deployment, scalability, flexibility, and cost savings. Benefits are tremendous and it is for sure that they will outweighs the existing challenges.