What really changed in the cloud in 2018

10.01.2019 1,434 3

Martin Deshev

2018 brought a lot of changes and challenges to the IT world. Of course, the cloud industry also got to experience new developments. But what really changed in the cloud in 2018?

Well, let’s find out. It was an interesting year marked with continuous growth of the cloud. More companies got well into using the cloud and the services matured. There were also some new trends forming along the way which shaped the year.

The cloud market

The 2018 IDG Cloud Computing Study came out at the very end of August 2018. It shows that enterprises expect to spend on average $3.5M on cloud apps, platforms and services. Also, 77% of enterprises say they have at least one application or some portion of their computing infrastructure in the cloud. On average, 30% of all IT budgets are allocated to cloud computing.

What’s more, 76% of enterprises say they expect cloud apps and platforms to further improve and accelerate their IT service delivery. Speed and efficiency are key components enterprises look for in cloud services and platforms. Telecoms, Utilities, High-Tech and Manufacturing are the industries where the push for the cloud is the strongest.

Other interesting tidbits: 54% of enterprises say that IT must increase its collaboration with other business units as a result of cloud investments. 48% of all organizations believe the cloud is forcing them to rethink their IT organizational structure. 49% of all organizations are planning to migrate disaster recovery/high availability to the cloud in one to three years from now.

Edge and Hybrid

The Edge and Hybrid cloud solutions were the silent storms this year. They might not have drawn too much of the spotlight, but they did make an impact for sure. Both prove to be interesting and promising trends in the cloud industry. The Edge allows telecoms to use their networks as cloud service providers and offer simpler services to the clients. The Hybrid, on the other hand, allows clients to mix and match on-premises and remote cloud services and features to create their ideal solutions.

Security

Security is always going to be a big topic in IT. The cloud is no exception. The 2018 Oracle and KPMG Cloud Threat Report shows the cloud enjoys healthy trust. 83% of companies rate cloud security as good or better than on-premises security. 90% of organizations categorize half or more of their cloud-resident data as sensitive.

Organizations also see the long-term value of investing in security. 51% say they have already experienced financial impact because of breaches, or data loss and/or reputation damage. Investing in security is no longer something exotic, but a must and the cloud helps with that a lot.

Cloud and data

This one might be obvious, but it’s still worth pointing out. Wikibon’s 2018 Cloud Markets and Trends Report is particularly focused on the fact that the “cloud moves to the data”. What this means is that the cloud has become less uniform and platforms continue to evolve in order to adapt to all of the new and emerging data trends and data realities. This indicates the emergence of new cloud services and features for different operating scales, business models and even geopolitical issues. All of these phenomena will continue to mold the cloud so that it can keep serving data needs as best as possible.