Cloud technology has transformed the way businesses not only store and manage data, but also access and develop applications. But what can we expect for cloud trends for 2023?
First and foremost, we’ve moved past the point where the cloud is a trend, as it’s now a central part of the tech infrastructure for most businesses.
Cloud technology — and how we use it — is constantly advancing. Read on to learn about what we predict for cloud trends in 2023.
The Discussion is About Business Outcomes, Not Tools
With the evolving role of IT leadership, CIOs and other IT leaders are joining table-stakes discussions to talk about business outcomes, not simply “what tools should we buy”. Of course, these conversations ultimately lead to the adoption of new tools and technologies, but the conversations themselves are focused on business outcomes.
With more users leaving the office and dragging workloads with them, cloud utilization has changed. Hardware refresh cycles are now an opportunity to move the focus and resources away from hardware administration and onto seamless application delivery and user experience.
As cloud infrastructures become more complex, businesses are seeing the value of “as-a-Service” vs training people in house. This allows businesses to stay lean while increasing what their cloud mix can do for them.
Out of all the cloud trends for 2023, we predict that the transition from “technology focus” to “business outcomes”, will shape how IT leadership crystalizes priorities far beyond the coming year.
Single Cloud Isn’t Enough
The days of hosting everything on a single cloud deployment, all-in on public cloud giants like AWS or Azure, in-house or colocated VMware Private cloud, even hosted Managed Private Cloud, is over. As leaders put more of an emphasis on business value, security and resilience, they’ve realized that getting handcuffed to a single cloud model is not delivering the best user experience or ROI for their business.
Public cloud giants are claiming high profits but failing to deliver on the cost-performance benefits that businesses demand in 2023 and beyond. The capital needed in Private Clouds does not match workloads that experience medium to extreme spikes in utilization. While SaaS may hold the most appeal, the lowest common denominator approach of most SaaS providers may not deliver the specialized value many enterprise businesses require.
Application workloads are best delivered when matched with the appropriate cloud delivery platform. Simply buying more storage on public clouds or more servers in the office closet – even colocation does not fit all the workloads and their associated bills.
IT leaders are working with stakeholders to develop and deliver workload-focused strategies that are platform agnostic. This includes building a cloud mix incorporating a combination of SaaS, private cloud, on-premise, and public cloud solutions.
As the demand for specialized solutions increases, alongside the sophistication of cloud technology, we predict that hybrid solutions will shape cloud 2023 trends.
Companies Demand Business Continuity
Today’s leaders understand that data backups (even immutable backups) aren’t enough to make their organization resilient.
The reality is that data without infrastructure and expertise is not enough to get people and the applications they use up and running again. That has led to an increased focus on building resilience within and between the cloud(s) that get data and applications running and people back to work as quickly as possible.
Today’s businesses utilize more technologies and tools than ever. This rapid expansion has put an increasing burden on IT teams.
When it comes to Business Continuity, intricate interdependence between workloads, and the clouds that host each, add additional complexity. The demands of stakeholders, including customers, government and industry regulators, cyber insurance companies, and many more, add further to the IT burden.
Cloud technology increases the attack surface, opening businesses up to additional attack vectors. With cyber-attack sophistication at an all-time high, our clients are investing more in the automation of predictable tasks using Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) tools as an integral part of their holistic business resiliency plan. We see SOAR investment as a necessary supplement to the existing Security Operations Center (SOC) team’s ability to deal with the ever-increasing volume of security alerts generated by SIEM and XDR/EDR tools.
The cloud trends conversations in 2023 primarily focus on determining the right mix of clouds and tools to protect and prevent as much as possible, with a layer of recoverability.
This includes a two-prong approach starting with taking a more holistic approach to threat visibility and cybersecurity. The other prong is an increasing openness to bringing in “as-a-Service” expertise to help host the applications and to orchestrate the recovery within Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO). Even here, the focus is delivering business resilience and not the tools being used.
Cloud Trends 2023 – What Should You Expect?
Only time will tell what 2023 will bring, but one thing is clear, any cloud project needs to support and, ultimately, deliver on business outcomes.
If you want to see how the cloud can help you achieve your business objectives for 2023 and beyond, we can help. Talk to an expert about your cloud infrastructure.
- Cloud Trends 2023: Can the Cloud Do It All? - January 10, 2023