The future of cloud computing is anything but hazy—it’s a lightning rod of technological advancements and innovations that has the power to completely reshape how business is done.
From large, global enterprises to agile start-ups, the cloud has been an equalizer of innovation, enabling businesses of any size to streamline their operations and boost scalability, all while reducing costs.
One reason for this success is the industry’s electric growth rate.
Grand View Research predicts a compound annual growth rate of 21.2% from 2024 to 2030 and a cool $2.39 billion in revenue in that same year.
With businesses benefitting left and right from a digital-first ecosystem and an influx of capital, the industry is ripe for continued growth and change. Today, we’ll examine the future of cloud computing, including predictions for new technology that will radically transform what we mean when we say “the cloud.”
What Is Cloud Computing and How Does It Work?
Cloud computing is on-demand access to computing services like servers, storage, databases, applications, analytics, and networking over the internet (the cloud). Through this technology, various devices and applications talk to each other via an internet connection, and data storage and management become streamlined.
Businesses are so drawn to cloud computing because they can run their operations without the burden of physical servers or storage devices. This leaner infrastructure provides them with greater flexibility and makes them more adaptable to a global, remote, or hybrid workforce.
It’s a massive subject with roots in nearly every digital-first process and ecosystem. But the most common thing that people mean when they talk about cloud computing is that it’s a cost model for hosting resources.
So, instead of a business needing to purchase, manage, maintain, and secure its own physical servers and storage, it can outsource that work to a third-party provider and access its information over the Internet.
There are three general areas of cloud computing:
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Here, businesses get access to computing resources like servers, storage, and networking via a cloud service provider.
- Platform as a Service (PaaS): In this model, developers get a complete digital environment to test and manage applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure or network capacity.
- Software as a Service (SaaS): The acronym you’re likely most familiar with, SaaS refers to products or applications you can access over the internet. Good examples of this are Google Drive and Microsoft 365, which are used for personal or business file storage.
To say cloud computing is ubiquitous in modern business may be an understatement. Recent data unearthed that 98% of businesses are currently using cloud computing in some form. If anything, this form of operation is the new mainstay. That’s because of the bounty of benefits businesses get from this tech including sustainable cost models, scalability, accessibility, increased security, and more.
The Future Of Cloud Computing: Top Innovations In The Space
Cloud computing has taken many businesses further, faster; and what we’ve seen so far is only the beginning. We’re witnessing impressive innovations in the space poised to take the industry to the next level.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Nothing disrupts the status quo quite like mergers and acquisitions (M&As), and the cloud computing world was buzzing over the recent acquisition of VMware by Broadcom.
The $69 billion deal nearly sent the industry into a tailspin with pricing changes, licensing tweaks, partnership shakeups, and even regulatory interest (antitrust conversations delayed the closing date three times).
Seeing a market leader stumble with new product rollouts and pricing mayhem, other industry professionals are speculating about the potential changes and opportunities that could happen because of this deal, including:
- Red carpet for competitors big and small. With 1 in 5 VMware customers claiming to jump ship, new providers have an opportunity to swoop in and win new contracts.
- Rise in container infrastructure. Containers are a packaged unit of software that contain all the necessary elements (code and other dependencies) to run in an environment. The industry is predicted to grow 16.2% by 2030, just a hair behind cloud computing as a whole. This could signify companies weighing all of their options from a virtualization perspective.
The bottom line is that we’re seeing shifts in cloud computing services, such as VMware’s new bundle offerings, as opposed to stand-alone products. And pricing, like VMware’s move away from vRAM models to core models, which change the way people need to look at their environment, servers, usage, and of course, their subsequent costs.
We can expect to see other cloud computing companies shaking things up in similar ways.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
We couldn’t, in good conscience, write a piece about future cloud computing and not include AI.
AI is establishing itself as a mainstay in cloud computing, and we believe that it’s hitting an interesting inflection point in the market. We’ll use Garter’s hype cycle, a visual representation of the maturity of emerging technologies, to explain further.
In our industry, we’re seeing AI fall into the trough of disillusionment, with intense hype and bloated expectations traded for the harsh realities of security, data privacy, and intellectual property concerns.
We’re poking holes in the current tech as it stands, and in doing so, it will likely become increasingly more sophisticated (as the chart predicts).
How will AI cement itself in this space? There are several smart use cases:
- Predictive analytics to help people use data to make smarter, faster decisions.
- Enhanced automation, streamlining tired workflows, and discovering new efficiencies.
- Internal operations such as employee onboarding and staff training.
- Adaptive security that detects and mitigates security threats in real-time by analyzing network traffic and user behaviors.
We’re already seeing remarkable results from AI and machine learning in healthcare, particularly oncology. Researchers are training models on medical imaging analysis, general research practices, health records, clinical data, and more and are seeing impressive early results. One study found that researchers using machine learning reached a 97% accuracy rate in diagnosing two common types of lung cancer via tissue sample slides.
Edge Computing
When it comes to information accuracy, you want to get your info directly from the source.
That’s essentially the goal of edge computing: to bring information storage, retrieval, and computing closer to the devices that produce that data and the people who use it. This tech reduces the number of network “hops” between the data and the end-user.
That’s not exactly how applications disseminate information now. Traditionally, applications transmit data to a central data processing center, which then routes the data to the proper place.
Edge computing lessens the power of the “middle man,” which, in turn, would reduce latency, increase operational speed and productivity, and improve data storage efficiency.
Platform as a Service (PaaS) Solutions
PaaS is a critical component of cloud computing, but we’re seeing (and expecting) greater reliance on this technology in the future.
A great example of this is in Microsoft’s suite of services. With Azure, you can host a structured query language (SQL) database without a server, saving businesses money on upfront infrastructure costs and general upkeep.
One challenge we’re noticing here is that legacy applications often limit a completely serverless approach. Luckily, there’s another option: hybrid.
Hybrid Cloud Models
Much of the discourse in the IT world is in absolutes—cloud or on-prem. But businesses aren’t operating in this stark of a dichotomy. In fact, many are exploring and experimenting with hybrid approaches to their IT infrastructure.
A hybrid approach would include some on-prem servers and technologies for critical or highly personalized/customized operations and cloud technologies for remote capabilities, stronger security, and scalability.
This two-pronged approach diversifies a business’s holdings, ensures they aren’t locked into specific vendors, and provides more flexibility.
Green Computing
A chief concern with all of the new cloud innovations is sustainability.
The Harvard Business Review found that even training a single AI model can absorb thousands of megawatt hours of electricity and 100+ tons of carbon emissions.
And that’s only one piece of the cloud computing puzzle.
More broadly, the cloud is cited as having a greater carbon footprint than the airline industry.
A moving paper from an MIT anthropologist details that the “cloud” as we know it is both material (cables, servers, cellular towers) and ecological (the flow of electricity, air, heat, water, and more to keep it functioning) and we need to view it from this layered perspective to make a meaningful change going forward.
And we will.
Investments in green technology are rising globally, both in the public and private sectors to meet newfound sustainability and carbon emission goals. When done well, green computing, or sustainable IT, will lower energy costs, improve brand image, inspire innovation, and help keep the planet healthy.
Future State: Quantum Computing and Super Computers
Quantum computing is still in its infancy and likely won’t take meaningful shape in the industry for some time. But when it does, it will shake information processing to the core.
Quantum computing is multidisciplinary, pulling from computer science, physics, and mathematics to process more complex information and solve subsequent problems faster.
One example would be an “instant restore” feature where you could retrieve once “lost” documents with the click of a button. Something like this would greatly revolutionize data retrieval and disaster recovery methods.
The Potential Challenges From These Innovations
New technology is exciting and provides businesses with several new opportunities to level up their operations.
But advancements in tech aren’t without their challenges.
Here are some potential stumbling blocks businesses may face in the wake of these innovations.
- Pricing Surge: We’ve talked a lot about the pricing benefits of cloud computing, but this pricing haven may not last forever. We suspect that non-fixed price public cloud costs will likely increase in the next few years. That’s because, without a fixed contractual agreement, you have no protection against price hikes. Compliance and regulatory shifts may also increase prices by raising the bar on minimum requirements to be compliant.
- Security Threats: Unfortunately with new tech, we need to immediately start thinking about how hackers and bad actors can threaten the integrity of it. Proactive penetration tests and network assessments will be critical to safeguard your business in the long term.
- Increased Regulations: The cloud space is famously unregulated—and the advancement leaps have made those gaps even more glaring (and even wider). We wouldn’t be surprised to see broader conversations regarding regulation in cloud computing which could change the way some businesses need to interact with products.
Where A Cloud Computing Partner Comes Into Play
There are so many innovations in the cloud computing industry—the future is certainly bright. But sometimes, bright lights can make it hard to see where to go. Luckily, you’re not on the path alone.
An experienced cloud services provider can help your business with digital transformation and migration, application configuration, employee training, and top-of-the-line security that keeps your data (and reputation) safe.
At SymQuest, we serve businesses big and small across a wide range of industries, including healthcare, legal, education, and more, to make their operational ecosystem as functional and efficient as possible.
Reach out to our specialists today to learn more about how your business can benefit from the future of cloud computing.
