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There has been a lot of discussion and speculation about ‘the cloud’ in recent years, and the countless inevitable benefits that it brings. As cloud-based platforms have continued to develop, we are seeing more and more businesses making the switch to remote access.
Cloud computing trends offer the opportunity to increase profitability for companies in almost every industry, especially with several cloud VoIP benefits available today. Businesses stand to gain a lot by moving their operations to the cloud, but many remain reluctant to overhaul their long-established internal systems. These businesses, however, are only delaying the inevitable and will reach a point where their dated systems will no longer suffice.
Cloud computing is certainly here to stay, and we will continue to see gradual adoption until purely localized services become a thing of the past. That said, here are my top three trends for cloud computing in the near future.
Quantum Computing Is Close
Quantum computing solutions were thought to be a distant goal that was hardly achievable in this lifetime. Fortunately for everyone, quantum computing solutions are closer than we think. In fact, these real-life applications may become available before a noise cancellation device actually hits the market. These quantum cloud solutions for business marry all the newest technological developments and updates to ever increase computing capabilities and performance. Right now, these options will only be viable cloud computing options for large corporations. However, in the very near future quantum cloud computing applications could become a reality. That is much sooner than anyone could have imagined.
Increased Cloud-Based Application Availability
With the majority of new business software being built from the cloud from the outset, it has been estimated that over a quarter of all applications (approximately 48 million) will be cloud-based by 2016.
This estimate is perfectly aligned with the fact that around 56 percent of businesses consider cloud adoption to be a strategic differentiation, and about 58 percent of businesses dedicate over 10 percent of their annual budget to cloud services (Enterprise Cloud Adoption Survey, 2014).
Accelerated Growth In Cloud Market
It was estimated in the 2014 survey that the cloud market would reach the value of $250 billion by 2017. A year later, this estimate seems to be increasingly accurate. This growth in market size is consistent with enterprises’ increased reliance on cloud-based systems for product development, marketing, sales, supply chain management and more.
There are now countless apps for business mobiles which make it easy for business to connect to their cloud-based services, such as Office 365 for mobile, Dropbox and the most prominent VoIP phone system, Skype.
One area of cloud computing which has experienced particularly strong growth is the software as a service (SaaS) market. The report estimated that the SaaS market would continue to grow at a rate of 20.2 percent, which equates to $45.6 billion by 2017. It is little surprise that businesses are rushing to re-brand anything which can be sold ‘as a service’ to get their piece of the pie.
Increased Hybrid Cloud Adoption
It has been estimated that half of enterprises will operate on hybrid cloud systems by 2017, which will greatly accelerate the growth of mobile supply chains. ‘Pure’ cloud systems are more distant, and there are logical reasons to explain this.
It would be highly difficult, if possible, to move all processes to the cloud due to the complex nature of today’s business environments. A hybrid cloud, composed of both on- and off-premise data storage, provides the best of both worlds. Businesses can enjoy all the benefits of on-site solutions, while also benefiting from the flexibility provided by cloud services.
Finding The Right Business Cloud Storage
If you want to experience the benefits of business cloud storage, and stop losing money, you have to know where to look. There are many options out there for a variety of needs. So, the first thing you have to do is identify and prioritize the needs of your business. Are you currently in a phase of rapid growth? That will become a priority for making the correct choice for business cloud provider. Or, perhaps your business is operating at maximum capacity and you just need a solution to lessen the required hardware in the office. Decide what your small business needs now, and what it will need in the near future. Then, use your answers to narrow down the field of possibilities. Finding the best business cloud storage provider is no simple task, but prioritizing your business needs is a great first step.
This post was written by Christian Abbas, a digital marketing consultant with a passion for technology. Christian works with Columbus UK, a provider of business phone systems, business mobiles and cloud solutions to UK businesses.
