Key Trends to Shape Cloud Computing in 2022 and Beyond

Cloud computing has ushered a new era of digital transformation for businesses by enabling them to save a huge amount of money on computing resources. This is one of the reasons why more and more enterprises are embracing Cloud services. A recent survey report published by Gartner clearly indicates that nearly 70% of organizations that use Cloud services are planning to increase their spending on the Cloud in the coming years, owing to the disruption caused by the global pandemic. In the first quarter of 2020 alone, Cloud spending grew by as much as 37% and it is estimated that it will surpass $482 billion this year, up from $313 billion in 2020. Since businesses are poised to increase their Cloud spending, the projections point towards the growth of the global Cloud computing market size from $445.3 billion in 2021 to $947.3 billion by 2026 at 16.3% CAGR during the forecast period. This reflects that Cloud computing will remain a staple for businesses and continue achieving rapid adoption and growth in 2022 and beyond. The key factors to shape Cloud computing in the years to follow:

Edge Computing

In 2023, the number of connected devices will be 3X the global population, says Cisco. Furthermore, a study conducted by McKinsey found that on an average 127 new IoT devices connect to the Internet every second. It indicates that businesses are likely to encounter common issues like security, bandwidth, and latency, if their data centers are located far away from the location where data is generated.

Also Read: Cloud Readiness for the Business of Future

To overcome these challenges, edge computing has not only emerged but also moved to center stage. In fact, Gartner predicted that 75% of data produced by enterprises will be created and stored at the edge. It enables service providers to build localized data centers for computing and bring storage near to the geographic location where they are needed most. This will help businesses quickly deploy and run applications without banking on centralized networks, where edge computing will play a fundamental role in managing connected devices such as IoT.

Containerization

Containerization was a hit in 2021 and this trend is going strong in 2022, since it simplifies operational concerns, deployment, and management. In fact, Gartner predicted that by 2026, 90% of enterprises across the globe will be running containerized applications. Containerization implies the packaging of software or application code with all its key components like frameworks, libraries, and other dependencies in a lightweight API. Encapsulating applications within containers allows businesses to run applications on any infrastructure or computing environment, which significantly improves load time, scalability, and security. Since each container is paltry in size, a server can host a number of software or applications resulting in significant cost savings.

Cloud Gaming Platforms

Cloud-based gaming is an important trend that is set to pick up the pace this year. This trend will follow the footsteps of the entertainment industry and enjoy the success it is currently enjoying. Industry titans like Amazon and Google have already forayed into it and launched their Cloud-based gaming platforms such as Amazon Luna and Google’s Stadia. In addition to it, Facebook has pulled up its socks by joining the bandwagon of the Cloud gaming industry.

The paradigm shift from traditional gaming to Cloud-based gaming will not only attract more players in this segment, but also redefine the way end consumers enjoy gaming. Firstly, it will free up consumers from purchasing the most up-to-date hardware after every 2-3 years to cope with the advanced gaming technologies. By offloading the heavy processing potential of the hardware to the Cloud, gamers can enjoy their favorite games directly through remote servers resulting in significant cost savings. Secondly, the Cloud-based gaming platforms open up a host of libraries of game titles. Consumers can access their favorite game titles through monthly subscriptions rather than buying costly physical copies.

Human Cloud

The rise of the human Cloud is a popular trend in the B2B sector with 22% YoY growth, according to a report by SIA. With Human Cloud, businesses can bridge the talent gap since it provides enterprises on-demand access to a pool of flexible workforce at low overhead costs. Owing to this, the worldwide revenue of human Cloud services rose from 82 billion USD in 2017 to 178.5 billion USD in 2019. This Cloud-based platform backed by staffing curators offers state-of-the-art customer service, quality, and labor compliance than traditional staffing practices.

Serverless Computing

Going serverless is another popular trend that has been gaining strong traction among businesses since it allows them to test, manage, and deploy applications on the Cloud without significant capital investment. A report by Mordor Intelligence states that the demand for serverless computing will keep growing and the market size of this industry is predicted to register a growth of more than 23.17% during the period of 2021-2026. With serverless infrastructures, businesses don’t have to pay a fixed amount for buying any server space, storage, or bandwidth, instead, the charges will be incurred based on the usage (pay-as-you-go service). Though this approach is called serverless, don’t presume that there are no servers involved, instead, the servers are there, and the service provider will have to take care of server maintenance. Serverless computing is a true Cloud paradigm that was counted among the top PaaS Cloud services in 2020.

Stay Ahead of the Curve with the Latest Cloud Trends

With the rising prevalence of Cloud computing, it is evident that the Cloud is the key enabler for digital transformation. By embracing the latest Cloud trends, businesses can not only reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO), improve data management, cybersecurity, and accessibility but also gain a competitive edge.

The future lies in the Cloud and businesses understand this fact well, that’s why they are continually adopting Cloud computing consulting services to unlock the doors for sustained growth in 2022 and beyond.