5 Cloud Technology Trends that will impact Businesses in 2019

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A relatively short time ago, cloud services were viewed as a slightly risky solution that may be marginally useful in making non-urgent functions of a business a bit easier. However, within the last 5 years they have transformed into something that is an increasingly prominent feature in almost every aspect of our lives, both business and personal.

Cloud-based solutions already dominate the big-business markets, covering almost all of their vital functions, and this is something that is certainly not going anywhere fast, any time soon, and indeed, filtering down the lower sizing levels of businesses through to SMEs. According to the International Data Corporation, no less than 60 percent of all IT spending and up to 70 percent of all software, services, and tech spending will be cloud-based by 2020.

In a nutshell: Cloud technology should be perceived as a crucial element of a company’s competitiveness and business plans going forward.

With this in mind, the Glemnet team have researched and analysed what we think will be the  most impactful cloud technology trends of 2019:

More diverse solutions

Broader and broader cloud technology adoption rates bring with them more diverse technology and service delivery models. For a while the choice for enterprise cloud solutions was mostly limited to an alternative between a variety of “cloudwashed” legacy solutions (i.e. old products more or less hastily rebranded to associate with cloud computing and the hype accompanying this buzzword) and standardised solutions that often weren’t very good at meeting the requirements of particular businesses. This situation has been replaced by a variety of solutions for enterprises to choose from, such as our own GiNiEX Unified Commnications Solution. 

IT Departments are being restructured & reevaluated

The majority of medium to large businesses encounter the need to rethink the role of their IT departments, and this is largely as a result of constantly growing investment in the cloud. In the first instance it means that the IT departments that currently often exist in a somewhat isolated state from the rest of the enterprise have to demonstrate closer collaboration with other business units — the reason being that the influence of their work on the overall functioning of an enterprise is becoming too strong to continue using the current model. And, of course, the growing importance of the cloud means repositioning existing IT staff, as well as recruiting more cloud-focused talent.

Cost Reduction is no longer the only focus…

Where as in the past deciding on an IT solution was all about saving money, now businesses no longer see lowering costs as the primary advantage of using the cloud — they want to increase their business flexibility and many now turn to the cloud as the foundation of their entire business model.

The number of cloud-based solutions will continue to grow rapidly

Firstly, within the past couple of years, businesses have had a much broader selection of solutions and services to choose from, many of them targeting specific sections of the market. Secondly, any business willing to create its own cloud-based product will have to plan more carefully because of the rapidly growing competition. While a few years ago a cloud solution within a particular niche could have easily become the first of its kind and effortlessly acquire a decent client base, today there are fewer and fewer untouched niches with every passing day, and any newcomer will encounter some stiff competition.

Worries about Cloud-Solution security are fading

One of the reasons why many businesses weren’t (and some still aren’t) in a hurry to adopt cloud solutions was security concerns. Just like with any new technology, early implementations were often scrappy in unexpected ways, and were perceived as unstable and insecure in the business world. It goes without saying that traditionally conservative big businesses weren’t keen to leap into the world of cloud and put their critical functions at risk.

However, as cloud-based solutions are becoming more prevalent, these concerns rapidly drift into the background, and time passing shows that any arising critical risks are usually easily addressable. Therefore, the primary concerns of most businesses seeking to adopt cloud solutions have switched to another issue – that of efficiency and their ability to meet the needs of the business. In addition to that, as companies grow more mature in their use of cloud-based solutions, they become more confident and better equipped to deal with any issues that may arise. There are also some excellent cloud security solutions available now, such as Symantec Endpoint Protection. 

 

Will your business be embracing The Cloud in 2019? Leave a comment below as we’d love to hear your opinions, or if you’re interested in the cloud solutions that we can offer, then please do get in touch on 0208 639 0230.