Cloud Trends to Look Out
for in 2022

Cloud computing is no longer an emerging buzzword. Businesses across the globe have already acknowledged the potential of this technology and are increasingly moving their workloads and applications to the cloud. Given the trends, it is sufficient to say that cloud computing and usage have become the new IT standard.

However, if you dig a little deeper, you’ll see a wide array of cloud and IT leaders expecting more specific cloud trends to come up in 2022. Here are some of the top key cloud trends that are expected to arrive with the New Year:

An Increase in Hybrid Cloud Environments

According to the Flexera 2020 Report, 93% of companies worldwide operate on a multi-cloud model, while the hybrid cloud approach is embraced by 87% of them. An increase in hybrid cloud deployment is expected due to the growth in the adoption of cloud-native infrastructure. Enterprises could make use of their cloud as well as on-premise resources with cloud-native computing and workloads gathering steam that is container-based.

In the future, the usage of the cloud must be driven by specialized circumstances and specific uses rather than one-size-fits-all or default settings. Kubernetes or other such orchestration platforms and containers or other cloud-native, cloud-centric technologies can be immensely helpful in making this process feasible.

Increased Automation in Hybrid Cloud & Multi-Cloud Settings

According to predictions made by Gartner, a minimum of 95% of the total security failures taking place in the cloud in 2020 will be caused by consumers. This, in itself, shows that automation is an integral part of voiding human error and creating multilayered defense mechanisms in cloud computing.

In addition, more and more enterprises today want to find better ways to manage multiple and complex on-premise, public, and private clouds from several vendors. Therefore, it has become an important issue pushing enterprises for large-scale adoption of hybrid multi-cloud strategies that offer higher levels of flexibility and resiliency in their choice of vendors. Enterprises also want to have the option of scalability, as well as support for a broad ecosystem of services and apps. Hence, automation is likely the next go-to strategy to deal with all the complexities.

Flexibility, Security, and Reliability in Cloud Strategies

The current trends show that more and more enterprises prioritize flexible, reliable, and secure cloud strategies for their business. According to a recent AllCloud report, 27.6% of respondents said security is essential for selecting cloud vendors. Additionally, 26.3% chose reliability, and 22.4% chose flexibility as the most important criterion.

While cost seemed to be an important criterion, in the beginning, this trend is changing now, and only 13.8% of respondents listed cost as a yardstick to choose vendors, making it the fourth important aspect in cloud strategies.

Consolidation of Cloud-Native Technologies

As cloud-native ecosystems become more mature, there are changes in the technologies and tools that are a part of this ecosystem. As a result, it is likely to see more consolidation in the future with dominant players in the field, solidifying their presence and leadership in the market.

Measurement and Monitoring Will Become a Priority for IT Leaders

With the expansion of hybrid and multi-cloud strategies, there is also a need for specialized IT teams to monitor diverse environments effectively and offer performance measurements. More workload is being deployed to cloud environments, giving rise to the need for having an IT team that constantly monitors and gathers metrics across the entire cloud environment. IT leaders will have to provide metrics to showcase a long-term business value offered by cloud spending.

5G-Enabled Edge Computing

Enterprises that regularly process huge amounts of data rely on the available resources of the cloud provider and the network bandwidth to complete the work at hand quickly. This is precisely where 5G-enabled computing can prove to be invaluable. This trend can help companies deliver broader bandwidth limits and higher speeds, enabling lower latency.

It is expected that 5G-enabled hybrid cloud ecosystems will take increased advantage of the available opportunities to perform edge computations and provide rapid data transfers to businesses worldwide.

Industry-Optimized Clouds

Industry-optimized clouds refer to a cloud computing system that addresses a particular industry’s specific needs and nuances. In 2022, industry-optimized clouds are expected to grow by leaps and bounds as organizations will not have to handle the complexities of their cloud architecture and infrastructure. This will go a long way to providing them with ease of administration and management.

Wrapping Up

2022 is shaping up to be the year of massive cloud computing. From businesses deploying multi-cloud strategies to embracing secure cloud solutions and advancement in encryption to protect their data, cloud computing technologies are likely to accelerate the process of digital transformation in organizations across the globe.