Cloud computing took companies by storm this year, with almost 60% of small to medium companies using cloud services, and 72% of them virtualising significant portions of their servers. 2014 promises even bigger growth, as cloud technologies expand on every front. Here are the biggest predicted trends for 2014:
Hybrid Clouds
This might the end the debate about public vs private clouds. Hybrid clouds – architectures that combine the security of private clouds with the power, scalability and cost-effectiveness of public clouds – will encourage more companies to adopt a cloud-based strategy. Hybrid clouds will open up a range of personalisable solutions for all areas of the business.
The Industrial Internet
The Industrial Internet is set to be huge in 2014. Cloud computing platforms will play a big role in creating the next generation of machines that are completely operated from central and remote locations. They’ll begin to roll out across major industries shortly.
BYOD
BYOD already started to cause waves in 2013, but it’ll be a big trend over the next 12 months. As end users put more of their own data into personal cloud storage for syncing, storage and streaming, IT will find more ways to incorporate these personal clouds into the workplace. Mobile Device Management will be key.
PaaS
Platforms-as-a-Service allows businesses to lower costs and speed up development, which aligns with many business goals this year. According to analyst firm IDC, the PaaS market is expected to grow from $3.8 billion to $14 billion by 2017.
Identity Management
Cloud services do present new security concerns. For all their accessibility and convenience, they do require a security policy overhaul. Identity management solutions will make this much easier in 2014, bringing new paradigms of security to the cloud.
Which of these trends do you think will be the biggest? Leave a comment and let us know!
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