Cloud technology includes computing services such as servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics and intelligence. It offers faster innovation and flexible resources. Predicting the future of cloud computing requires considering trends and technological advancements.
To help you stay ahead of the curve, we have compiled 15 cloud predictions tech companies have for 2024.
1. Moving Away From On-Premise Server Rooms
Cloud-based SaaS solutions will become an attractive option for businesses looking to move away from on-premise server rooms and improve carbon efficiency. When used within what the business needs (avoiding excessive usage and software sprawl) SaaS can be a quick win for your sustainability. – Frank Gartland, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Skillable
2. Increased Emphasis on Cloud Data Security and Privacy
The accelerated shift towards hybrid cloud integration solutions has been a significant development in 2023. The need for businesses to seamlessly connect applications, data, and processes across various environments (on-premises, multi-cloud, and edge) has grown considerably. Additionally, the emergence of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) has unlocked many new use cases and could drastically improve the customer experience. – Vince Padua, Chief Product Officer at Axway
3. Closing the DevOps and Security Team Disconnect
In the coming year, we also expect to see organizations work to close the disconnect between their DevOps and Security teams. By empowering these teams to work more cohesively, companies will have an easier time ensuring that applications and data are protected from security threats and vulnerabilities. Instead of looking within the “inside” of a cloud infrastructure, DevOps and security teams must work together in securing the border guarding each system. By doing so, organizations can maintain a robust in-house DevSecOps cybersecurity program that helps them react to incidents intelligently within minutes based on the uniqueness of each environment. – Or Shoshani, CEO & co-founder of Stream Security
4. Increased Adoption of Flexible Deployment Models
Every cloud provider has, more or less, experienced public difficulties with remediation efforts and patches taking a long time. I anticipate seeing organizations switch to a more flexible deployment model in the new year that allows for faster shifts between cloud providers due to security issues or unexpected changes in pricing. Microsoft’s recent “Secure Future Initiative” is just the start to rebuild public trust in the cloud. – Karl Fosaaen, VP of Research at NetSPI
Companies increasingly realize that data is one of their most valuable assets. Of course, not all data is created equally or effectively utilized, and some data classes are overlooked entirely. For example, many organizations are not taking full advantage of data regarding the health of their networks and applications, even though it can help predict performance problems and cybersecurity attacks. More and more organizations are looking for solutions that share and integrate data across platforms for more real-time insights to address this challenge. We can expect this trend to continue in 2024, especially as organizations grow their data lakes by incorporating new sources like packet and application performance management (APM) data. – Paul Barrett, Chief Technology Officer at NETSCOUT
As we head into 2024, the shift from batch to real-time data processing marks a major change in how businesses manage their financials and operations. This shift, now centralized on cloud platforms, like the Ververica Cloud, offers immediate data analysis, fostering agility and enabling swift response to customer needs, thereby enhancing overall business performance. It is superior to batch processing, which limits companies to periodic insights, and real-time data processing. This transformation is crucial in areas such as supply chain management and immediate response to data breaches, significantly reducing their financial impact. – Alexander Walden, CEO of Ververica
5. AI Wars of 2023 Will Shift to Cloud Wars in 2024
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is currently the most talked about topic in the world. It has penetrated every industry and aspect of our lives, both at work and at home. AI-powered technologies have the potential to provide streamlined experiences, but they require a considerable amount of cloud computing power to generate content and deliver resources quickly, accurately, and effectively.
We’ve seen plenty of upheaval in the AI space at the end of 2023, but now, I predict that the AI Wars of 2023 will shift to the Cloud Wars of 2024. Hyperscalers will continue investing in their proprietary large language models (LLMs) to retain customers in their ecosystem and increase their revenue.
For instance, ChatGPT is probably the most well-recognized AI-powered LLM. These models require a lot of computing power and are the backbone of most generative AI applications. Cloud providers have emerged as the key distribution channels for these LLMs and are competing to ensure that the compute processing for these models comes through their servers. Hyperscalers are fighting to power these foundational models through their own servers to generate content and, thereby, boost their revenue. – Roger Brulotte, CEO, Leaseweb Canada
6. Hybrid Cloud Will Mature
2024 will see the maturation of the hybrid cloud approach. It is not just regulated industries that are adopting it; organizations of all types are maintaining on-premises investments while also embracing the cloud. This flexible approach allows them to leverage the best of both worlds, as reinforced by findings in the recent 2023 Hybrid Cloud Survey. This survey reveals that two-thirds of respondents, 64%, have already implemented a hybrid approach, and 38% of all respondents intend to enhance their adoption of the hybrid cloud within the upcoming year. GenAI will accelerate cloud adoption and legacy workloads will need the ability to work with these new workloads in the cloud. – Kamal Srinivasan, SVP of Product and Program Management at Parallels (a sub-brand of Alludo)
7. Ongoing Migration of Enterprise Data to the Cloud
As cloud computing continues to grow in 2024, we will see increased adoption by businesses of all sizes as cloud providers build more turnkey Saas solutions and pricing models, lowering barriers to entry and making it easier for businesses to manage their cloud resources. With this will come a greater focus on cloud security and compliance as well as new compliance standards. – Michael McLaren, President at Bounteous
8. More Complex Data Quality Issues
In this expanding cloud data era, data quality issues will also become more complex. The abundance and diversity of data increase the risks of data inconsistency, data duplication, and challenges in measuring data quality. Managing data lineage and addressing data latency across different access points around the globe are also a critical consideration, as is determining the appropriate tools for use with cloud data assets – Sharad Varshney, CEO of OvalEdge
9. Data Strategy Grounded in AI
AI’s transformative power is fueled by data, and this data is stored and processed in the cloud — a repository shaping the very essence of AI. Emerging as a key facilitator of AI by streamlining the management and analysis of data, the cloud is empowering organizations to implement AI solutions with heightened productivity and efficiency. In 2024, the predominant technology trend in won’t be AI itself, but the tech infrastructure powering AI — namely, the cloud. – Chris Heard, CEO at Olive Technologies
10. The New Data Center: Hybrid Multi-cloud Architecture
Multi-cloud adoption has accelerated in the past few years. In early 2023, a survey suggested that 98% of companies on the public cloud already have plans to switch to a multi-cloud infrastructure. At the same time, organizations have also been increasingly relying on hybrid cloud architecture for flexibility and cost-saving purposes in the hybrid work era.
In the coming year, we will see an influx of companies opting for hybrid and multi-cloud strategies. The difference with the previous years is evident, as they will aim to seamlessly combine these two approaches. Companies will be enjoying the best of both worlds: the flexibility and scalability of multi-cloud architecture coupled with sovereignty and control over their data and applications offered by the hybrid cloud – in-country, across regions, or around the world. – Amitabh Sinha, CEO and Co-Founder at Workspot
11. Edge Computing Growth
Edge computing will see up to a 50 percent growth rate, creating a significant impact on things like improving performance, reducing latency, and better automation – Amruth Laxman, Founding Partner at 4Voice
Edge computing is rapidly becoming one of the most talked about data processing strategies. In 2022, around 54% of businesses were interested in edge computing but needed to see more examples of what it could bring to the table. By 2024, we’re now well-experienced in utilizing edge computing to optimize data-related processes.
As a decentralized and very low latency approach, edge computing provides an effective way of processing data more efficiently. This will go hand in hand with other developments, like the drive toward more agile approaches to data. As companies continue to invest in data, edge computing will become a primary choice for those looking to streamline processes, minimize costs, and maximize efficiency. – Charles Chow, Head of Marketing at Lumen
12. Cost Will Become the Ultimate Performance Metric
After decades of profligate spending on hardware, software, and services, 2024 will become the year that the cost to run an application becomes the ultimate performance metric. The traditional metrics that are focused on commodities (CPU, memory, disk, network) will actually become less important. As digitally transformed organizations continue their advance to the cloud, the cost-of-goods-sold will get linked intrinsically with operational and services measured at a finer-grained level; looking at specific tools, services, and algorithms for cost savings. – Kyle Campos, Chief Product & Technology Officer (CPTO) of CloudBolt
Cost optimization, sustainability and flexibility in a lean economic environment will continue to put hybrid cloud strategies front and center. Given the speed at which certain technologies like AI and IoT are multiplying, hybrid cloud will help CIOs rationalize certain investments and optimize the storage component (a key part to any green computing initiative).
In older models, storage was one of the most expensive components of a system, so we were very selective in what data was stored and how. Today, the opposite is true, in that storage is often the least expensive component of a system, which has led many organizations to adopt a “store everything forever” mentality. This is why we see focus on hybrid cloud and edge intensifying in 2024.
To prepare, CIOs should:
- Conduct thorough assessments of workloads to determine which are best for on-premise, public or private clouds.
- Set policies that automatically manage the lifecycle of data.
- Identify and optimize areas of code that consume the most time and resources.
–Mike Nolan, Principal Architect at SPR
13. Clouds Will Increasingly Evolve from Horizontal to Vertical
In 2024 we will see vertical clouds continue to grow, a concept where cloud infrastructures specialize in specific industries or functions. Currently, cloud services like AWS, Google, and Azure mainly operate as general-purpose platforms, while SaaS applications such as Marketo and MuleSoft cater to specific business needs. The transition from horizontal to vertical clouds is anticipated, where dedicated clouds for finance or agriculture, for instance, will offer highly specialized services. While we have seen industries starting to buy into vertical clouds, the evolution will be somewhat gradual; they won’t reach their prime in 2024, but they will enjoy significant growth when it comes to adoption. Google Cloud, for example, has developed cloud offerings that cater specifically to the healthcare and manufacturing industries, and I expect this trend will continue across cloud providers and additional industries. – Manoj Chaudhary, Chief Technology Officer & Senior Vice President of Engineering at Jitterbit.
14. Multi-cloud and Hybrid Cloud Adoption Will Lead to Distributed Architectures
Enterprises are now diving headfirst into the realm of multi-cloud and hybrid cloud strategies by strategically weaving together the finest offerings from different cloud providers tailored to their business needs.
This trend is set to continue well into 2024, as organizations embark on a quest to fine-tune their cloud expenditures, elevate the effectiveness and dependability of their applications. As the approach matures, it’s not just about optimizing costs — it’s a journey toward technical and operational agility to unlock the full potential of distributed architectures.
Embracing distributed compute is merely the prelude; the key to success depends on the widespread adoption of distributed databases, which should provide the foundation for developers to create innovative architectural models. The cloud revolution is not just about adoption, but a combination of optimization and architectural evolution. – Jay Jenkins, CTO of Cloud Computing at Akamai
15. Major Cloud Providers Will Reduce Their Carbon Footprint
“Sustainability and environmental concerns are influencing the major cloud providers like Microsoft, Amazon and Google to undertake many initiatives to reduce the overall carbon (CO2) footprint of cloud data centers. They have pledged to transition their cloud data centers to carbon-neutral via carbon offsetting and investment in renewable energy infrastructures like wind, solar, hydropower and hosting data centers in under-water containers. In addition, cloud providers are deploying modern high-performance computing, networking and storage hardware to reduce overall electricity usage. Many other companies are following similar approaches to reduce the overall electricity needs and the associated carbon emissions. – Mahadeva Bisappa, Principal Architect at SPR
