Cloud computing plays a role in almost everything we do today, but what challenges are firms looking to overcome in the cloud? And where do they go next as they look to realise the technology’s true potential?

Cloud computing is still growing at speed

Cloud computing is transforming the way we work. For the average firm, roughly a quarter of all IT workloads now sit on public clouds – a figure that’s set to rise to 43% in just the next three years. 

Last year, Gartner predicted that the global public cloud services market would grow to $266.4bn in 2020 – a rise of 17% from 2019. If anything, this forecast could come to look conservative due to the current need to work remotely.

Digging deeper, the market for software as a service (SaaS) is set to increase to $116bn this year. There’s also a growing trend towards the delivery of cloud infrastructure services or infrastructure as a service (IaaS); an area that’s likely to surpass the $50bn milestone in 2020.

What’s driving the journey to the cloud?

It’s important to understand the demands driving not just the progress firms have already made, but also the rationale for future cloud expansion. Here are three key areas pushing organisations to take on more SaaS and IaaS applications:

The need for scalability

Firms can’t innovate and grow effectively if they can’t roll out new processes across different business units at pace. By not being stuck in bricks-and-mortar data centres, cloud services are enabling businesses to scale their operations at speed – as well as delivering solutions at the point of need.

The huge appetite for Big Data
The use of Big Data is growing rapidly – and so is the demand for tools to collect, store and analyse these huge volumes of information. This is leading firms to adopt further cloud processes as they look for efficient methods of processing large datasets offsite.

The need for transformation
Firms are moving rapidly towards solutions built around modern systems architecture – favouring open-source, collaborative, and platform-based applications that often feature modular functionality. This is far easier to deliver in the cloud, allowing firms to tailor their solutions to user needs in any department or region.

Going further and faster with cloud delivery

The migration has begun, but how do firms continue their journey into the cloud? Ultimately, the next step is to double down on the cloud. Despite the proliferation of cloud apps and services, many organisations are only just beginning to modernise their core business processes.

It’s time for firms to look at how they can do more than support a selection of processes in the cloud. To make the most of advances in cloud computing, organisations need to explore how they can use it to enhance the delivery of their own products and services. That’s where we’re likely to see the next stage of cloud adoption leading, so we need to be asking ourselves: Can we do more in the cloud?

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