The cloud gives individuals and companies alike the ability to leverage data and innovate business processes to pursue complex goals without compromising on agility. At the end of 2020, around 50% of all corporate data was stored in the cloud and it has facilitated remote work solutions for businesses worldwide. Cloud technologies allow millions of people to work remotely, and enable companies to grow continuously. Moving forward, spending for cloud services is expected to grow exponentially.

The world is quickly moving closer to a cloud-based world, and if you want your business to keep up, you’ll want to keep an eye on the ups and downs of the cloud services industry. Here are five cloud services trends you should watch out for:

1. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the future, with its annual global market value expected to surpass $90 billion by 2025. Cloud computing and AI work hand in hand—AI manages massive amounts of data, while cloud computing increases the scope of AI.

Cloud services make AI accessible to nearly everyone since you don’t need significant upfront capital to benefit from this technology. Combining cloud services and AI will help you get the most out of both of them. As you upload all your business data to the cloud, AI analyzes and manages it to gain meaningful insights that will benefit you and your workflow.

2. Hybrid Cloud

A balanced hybrid cloud strategy combines the best qualities of the private and the public cloud: the flexibility and scaling ability of the public cloud along with the cost efficiency and regulatory compliance of the private cloud.

Further development of hybrid cloud technology over the next few years will shift services from private to public and from dedicated to shared.

3. Sustainable Cloud Solutions

More and more consumers expect sustainable practices from the businesses and organizations they support. Taking measures against global warming and climate change is a corporate responsibility, and this applies to cloud solutions, too.

Migrating data to the public cloud will significantly lower energy consumption and carbon emissions by reducing physical server requirements and closing down inefficient data centers, all of which benefit the environment and demonstrate a business’ commitment to sustainability.

4. Business Intelligence

Business intelligence tools are becoming more ubiquitous, which democratizes data on all levels of the organizational chart. With the use of these tools, more employees - regardless of their expertise or position - can access and understand data. Tools such as data visualization can be incredibly valuable for streamlining workflow and increasing efficiency. Additionally, employees having easy access to business data can help long-term growth.

5. Edge Computing

Edge computing brings data processes closer to the data source instead of depending on the power of centralized data-processing systems. With reduced bandwidth use and latency, businesses can efficiently run a wide array of applications.

Local data centers also bring the benefit of tighter information security. Edge computing will be crucial in managing the millions of IoT devices expected to hit the market in the next few years.

Conclusion

These are only some of the few trends you can expect to see emerge the cloud services industry. To maintain business growth and success, and future-proof your business, it’s important to stay abreast of these trends and partner with modern technology services firms.

Everestek offers cloud strategy consulting services for businesses and we’re ready to collaborate to find the best solutions for you and your business goals. Our professional team of cloud experts can help you with any cloud services you may want to implement or improve. Contact us today to find out more.