The advent of Cloud computing has completely changed the way organizations and users have access to the most diverse IT resources. This revolution is in full swing, and the cloud, regardless of the category we refer to (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), still has multiple opportunities for development. Both on the global and local market, we see the emergence of new technologies and approaches, which make cloud computing an increasingly efficient and plausible way of working for any category of users, regardless of requirements or technical knowledge.
We analyzed a number of articles and industry reports published internationally and synthesized the most relevant cloud trends from 2024.
The cloud market will exceed $1 Trillion in 2024
Globally, IDC has issued a forecast showing that the cloud market will surpass USD 1 Trillion for the first time in 2024. For the local market, we don’t have figures, but the growth trend is similar. Here’s why we think so. Programs such as SME Digitization place a strong emphasis on the cloud, which will see a significant number of SMEs take this step in 2024, with funding already approved at the end of 2023. The growing need for resilience and operational continuity will drive all more companies to opt for “backup as a service” and “disaster recovery as a service” services, as well as cloud storage. The third argument, most companies in which the IT infrastructure reaches the end of its life cycle (servers, operating systems) will opt for virtual hosting and not for the purchase of new equipment. Incidentally, server sales also fell by 20% in 2023 (data according to Omdia) for similar reasons: companies prefer to rent IT infrastructure rather than buy it.
AI as a Service (AIaaS) is gaining ground
With ChatGPT’s notoriety exploding in 2023, AI as a Service has become a highly sought-after service category among users interested in innovation. But cloud infrastructure has a key role to play in democratizing access to AI. Thus, IT companies that want to quickly exploit technologies associated with LLM (large language models) will be able to do so only from the cloud. Both market leaders and startups no longer have to invest in expensive infrastructures to put their AI as a Service offerings into production, but will be able to develop them quickly and efficiently in cloud environments. This trend makes AI increasingly accessible to beneficiaries in Romania, both from the perspective of the diversity of solutions and costs.
Major orientation towards hybrid cloud and multicloud
Due to standardization and the desire of beneficiaries to avoid technological dependence, in 2024 we will see more and more hybrid cloud and multi-cloud approaches. This approach in the development of IT infrastructures will bring beneficiaries more control at the level of customization, administration and security and will allow the development of unique scenarios. More and more organizations will combine the services of multiple cloud providers to achieve greater flexibility and availability. However, hybrid or multi-cloud infrastructures are difficult to manage and therefore suitable for organizations that have skilled human resources.
Business continuity is moving to the cloud
In the context of massive ransomware attacks in 2023, most local organizations have understood that it is not good to keep all your eggs in one basket. Because hackers often targeted data encryption in production systems, having a functional backup was the lifesaver. In 2024, the trend to move backup to the cloud is increasing, because few organizations have multiple premises suitable for hosting backup systems (IT infrastructure, connections, physical security, etc.). According to an analysis by Unitrends, in the coming years 84% of companies will keep their data in the cloud.
Serverless Computing
Serverless computing is an approach that allows developers to focus only on the code, without worrying about managing the hardware infrastructure: servers and operating systems. This model eliminates the need to manually provision and manage compute resources. In a serverless environment, the cloud service provider automatically manages the scaling, administration and monitoring of computing resources, allowing developers to focus exclusively on application development. According to Global Market Insights the serverless market will have a constant average growth of approximately 27.5% in the coming years.
Cloud infrastructure for real-time processing
More and more beneficiaries want to process data from the cloud in real time, and providers will offer such infrastructures. The requirements mainly apply to applications such as analytics, IoT, interactive games or other scenarios that require immediate responses. Achieving these goals involves creating an advanced infrastructure across the entire ecosystem: network, processing, virtualization, application development, etc., to achieve minimal or zero latency.
The cloud looks towards sustainability
Discussions about the high electricity consumption associated with data centers and the cloud mean that interest in sustainability is on the rise. The topic will be increasingly addressed in 2024, and cloud providers will take on targets to reduce their carbon footprint by increasing the energy efficiency of IT infrastructure and contracting ever-increasing volumes of green energy. M247 operates a Green Data Center and places a strong emphasis on sustainability.
Growing interest in Kubernetes and Docker platforms
The need for an easy way to manage cloud projects will drive the adoption of Kubernetes and Docker platforms. Docker is a containerization platform that allows wrapping an application and all its dependencies in a container, and Kubernetes is an open-source platform for orchestrating containers. It automatically handles scaling, deployment, application state management, and updates in a distributed environment. The two technologies are most often used together to manage, orchestrate, and deploy applications in cloud or data center environments
Automation and Virtual Assistants
The cloud is no exception to the general trend that has swept the industry, and the adoption of automation and virtual assistants will be on the rise. The automation potential is huge in the cloud and will contribute to increasing the efficiency of management teams (infrastructure, network, security), but also to simplifying interaction with users and to the emergence of revolutionary services.
These trends highlight the directions in which cloud technology is developing in 2024 and reflect the continued importance of innovation, efficiency and sustainability in this dynamic field. M247 follows global cloud trends and provides clients with the most advanced technologies and innovative services, so that each of them can achieve their specific business goals.
