How to reach the clouds in 2022? Here are the most important trends in terms of cloud computing solutions

For many companies, the end of the year is the time to close budgets and define strategies. Analysts predict that spending on digital solutions will continue to grow rapidly in 2022. The pandemic continues to drive digitization, and organizations investing in cloud solutions can save a great deal. As it turns out, despite the growing popularity of this technology, today up to 30% of the money invested in cloud projects is wasted, according to the Flexera State of the Cloud 2021 report. How to profit from the cloud, and how to avoid wasting your investment? We offer advice on which technology trends are worth keeping an eye on, and which cloud services will help your business – literally – reach the clouds.

Clouds are coming

In the context of digitization, the forecast is good. Expenditures on the cloud and its usage in organizations are growing. According to the analytical and consulting company Gartner, by 2022 they may reach the dizzying amount of $482 billion. Soon we will see if these estimates are correct. Meanwhile, global visionaries such as Gartner or Forrester present their predictions for 2022. What do they tell us about cloud technology trends?

The most important cloud services and trends in 2022

Zero-Trust: do not trust and control

The more we move away from traditional IT architecture towards distributed architecture and get into the world of remote work, the more challenging it is to ensure the security of corporate networks and applications. The Cybersecurity Mesh model is starting to displace the VPN. It is a modular approach that focuses on protecting all access points, considering them potentially at risk. 90% of organizations today have a strategy for managing hybrid and multi-cloud environments. According to Gartner, the Cybersecurity Mesh approach can reduce the costs of potential incidents by up to 90%. These numbers can appeal to our imagination.

Pay-as-you-go: using serverless solutions

Cloud service providers such as Microsoft, Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud meet the expectations of companies that wish to innovate and minimize infrastructure maintenance costs. This is made possible by the pay-as-you-go model, in which we pay only for the services which are actually used. For example, developers create applications in a serverless environment using services such as Azure Functions and AWS Lambda (Function-as-a-Service). Certainly, preparing for the use of cloud services requires investment, but the company gains innovative solutions and unburdens itself from maintaining an IT infrastructure. This way we can move to another main cloud trend, namely:

Developing cloud-native applications

Until recently, many companies faced the dilemma of which cloud migration strategy to choose. Today, the decision seems to be crystal clear: the development of cloud-native applications. According to Gartner’s “Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2022” report, it is likely that in 2025 we will see this approach in over 95% of new digital projects. The development of applications directly in the cloud allows you to use its full potential, whereas moving “non-cloud” systems to the cloud (in the so-called “Lift and Shift” model) is associated with higher maintenance costs. In the context of savings, the choice seems to be clear.

Who are the cloud service providers nowadays?

It seems that they no longer need to act as “cloud evangelists”. Today, most project managers contact cloud service providers with specific expectations in mind. According to one of the most comprehensive industry reports by Flexera, “State of the cloud 2021 “, regardless of whether the organization is just starting its adventure with the cloud or has some experience, the most common initiatives focus on:

1. cloud optimization in terms of existing resources,
2. migrating more resources to the cloud.

Read also: Azure Cloud Glossary. Basic terms and services related to Azure Cloud 

I want to implement the cloud – when can cloud services providers help?

The cloud is an important trend that translates into interest in digital transformation projects. In many cases cloud services providers can support your company in areas such as:

• Cloud consulting – Increasingly often, the question is not whether it is worth moving services to the cloud, but what migration plan will be appropriate, what the costs are, how to optimize cloud services, and – from a technical point of view – what the dependencies between particular applications are. It is worth considering the support of an external company if we are determined to use the cloud, but we have difficulty choosing services and cloud providers. Cloud specialists also help to optimize the performance and costs of existing cloud services.
• Cloud Programming – nowadays, acquiring the competences that will allow you to develop applications based on serverless solutions or cloud-native applications is a real challenge. Developers are in demand, and the employee’s market in IT does not make it easier to keep talents in the project. Third-party cloud service providers often establish partnerships with public cloud providers such as Microsoft. This obliges them to pay attention to certification and thus ensure the availability of ready-to-work developers.
• DevOps – DevOps culture means creating and developing IT infrastructure through constant monitoring with CI / CD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery) tools. The old approach, in which the developer was also responsible for the implementation of the application, does not work in dynamic projects. Solutions are implemented in the cloud, and DevOps supervises the preparation of the environment, as well as the quality and proper course of this process.
• Cloud Analytics – in the context of data analysis, we can increasingly come across terms such as Cloud Analytics, Cloud Business Intelligence or Digital Intelligence. Building efficient data warehouses in the cloud (e.g. using Snowflake) is now faster and easier, and we can also analyze data almost in real-time, e.g. with the help of tools such as Snowpipe.
• Cloud Security – security and access to data is an important challenge in the world of remote work in distributed cloud environments. In order to prevent security breaches, it is worth considering pen-testing and using the skills of DevSecOps specialists. There are also many more possibilities in the field of data backup, e.g. you can create attack-resistant backups based on SaaS platforms, such as Druva.  
• Cloud Identity – today almost everything can be provided “as a service”, including identity – or to be more specific, identity management. Companies willing to ensure cloud login security may consider using an Identity-as-a-Service platform, such as Okta, a global provider of IDaaS services, whose solutions in Poland are available via partners.

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Summary

The cloud was one of the biggest technological winners during the pandemic. According to the Deloitte report “The Future of Work Infrastructure in a cloud environment”, cloud giants boasted double-digit revenue growth in 2020 – Google Cloud 43%, AWS Cloud 29%, and Microsoft Azure 27%.

As per the latest Eurostat data, the European average of enterprises buying cloud services amounts to 36% (in 2018 it was 24%). The cloud is both a trend – because it facilitates innovation, and a standard – because it enables operability, flexibility and cost savings, all of which are crucial nowadays in a dynamic business environment. The cloud takes advantage of economies of scale and the initial investment will pay off as the company matures.