A Cloudy Future: 6 Cloud Computing Predictions for Future Enterprises

Cloud computing is already a traditional part of many companies, but it has plenty of future potential to do. The ability to move processes and content into an online format accessible via a variety of devices and locations is making business flexible…and encouraging even more innovation.

Here are several predictions of the ways cloud computing will develop in the coming years to meet more needs than ever – and offer more than a few challenges for companies along the way:

1. More Mobility:

The cloud started out on desktops, but it is swiftly going mobile. Cloud platforms are already a big mobile business, and the trend will only start to grow. Users will start to expecting easy smartphone or tablet access for all their cloud abilities, just as they have desktop access. Data rates aside, this is largely a process of optimizing platforms so they can function in a mobile environment. Companies are waiting on designers for this new development: Much of the demand already exists.

2. The Cloudability of Data:

What will be put into the cloud in the future? Big Data. More and more, Big Data will use cloud systems to help categorize its massive amounts of data and push it out into useful answers for analyzing companies. All sorts of data, channeled from the developing Internet of Things, will wind up in the cloud, where it can be passed on to systems as needed. The primary challenge here will continue to be security and data privacy concerns.

3. The Acceptance of PaaS:

Software as a Service is so yesterday: Make way for the rise of Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions, where companies simply move their entire platforms onto the cloud instead of just picking one or two key services. This often makes it easy to businesses to convert to cloud systems instead of pushing through complex hybrid models. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a very similar model that will yield similar adoption.

4. The Rise of EaaSe:

You knew it was coming – the Everything as a Service era. This is a projection made by analysts that predicts, eventually, it will make more sense to have all software and data exist in a cloud format where servers are the gatekeepers to all computer information and desktop computers are reduced primarily to active memory and fancy interfaces.

This requires that companies not only find vendors they can trust for literally every part of their company, but also for servers to develop far more robust security features than they have today. On the plus side, data will no longer be as susceptible to theft on the company end, and offices will become ultimately flexible.

5. Cloud Personalization:

As people begin to move more and more of their own data onto the cloud, it will grow personalized. Everyone will have their own “cloud” filled with their own data and preferences, easily exchangeable and adapted to everything from fitness suggestions to grocery shopping and social suggestions. Just like the BYOD trend has employees bringing in their own smartphones to work, people will also start using their personal clouds for business data, creating the need for a whole new slew of company accommodations and regulations.

6. IT Separation:

As companies move closer and closer to an EaaS model, IT departments become – well, irrelevant. Instead, separate IT management companies will rise to take their place and manage the behind-the-scenes work. Companies may still produce plenty of web content, but the traditional IT department, as a part of the firm, could grow outdated in the coming years, pushed away by cloud expertise.

Matt Stern is the Social Media Coordinator for Kontron, a global leader in embedded computer technology specializing in the production rugged military computers, embeded arm processors, and more.

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