Looking to the Cloud in 2022
WatServ
December 15, 2021
2021 has been another fantastic year for cloud computing. One of the most important trends across the entire technology industry has been the focus on greater business resilience, naturally as a result of the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic. This has led many executives to green-light digital transformation projects that are often underpinned by the need for cloud storage or applications.
But what is coming next? As we enter the end of year holiday season and prepare for 2022, what are the important cloud trends and industry developments that might be important next year?
Spending patterns indicate strong growth. Gartner has predicted that 2022 spending on cloud services will exceed $482 billion, that’s up from $313 billion last year. Just about every new digital service now requires cloud computing infrastructure as a backbone.
New Services
Gaming is already an enormous part of the global entertainment market, but it is set to become even bigger and more focused on the cloud through the launch of Google’s Stadia and Amazon’s Luna services. A look at the people Google is currently hiring for Stadia suggests that Virtual Reality gaming in the cloud will be big next year.
Sustainability driving innovation
Companies like Microsoft and Amazon are using enormous amounts of power in their data centers. Increasingly all the companies involved in building cloud infrastructure will use more and more innovative methods to reduce their carbon footprint – Amazon is a good example. They are already the world’s largest purchaser of renewable energy and the company has launched over 200 renewable energy projects globally.
Hybrid clouds
Many companies are now exploring how to blend a public cloud, perhaps used for customer access, with a private cloud for more internal operations. This is often driven by executives that have seen what is possible with a public cloud and now want to expand the range of services.
Serverless Cloud
Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM are all exploring this idea of functions-as-a-service creating a pay-as-you-go service that removes the need to commit to leasing a certain number of servers or storage.
Cloud nationalism
Forrester Research has suggested that a new era of cloud nationalism is about to begin where regulators and government officials will apply pressure on technology companies to align broadly with a US or Chinese agenda. The strong requirements for data sovereignty in the European Union may also be problematic for cloud providers outside this region. In general, executives need to think more about where their data will be physically located.
Artificial Intelligence
AI is developing across all industries. Companies are finding more and more ways in which they can create value through the intelligent analysis of data they often already have – such as creating the ability to predict what a customer will want next. The machine learning processes that create this insight require processing power and data storage that is naturally suited for cloud-based systems. The rapid growth in the use of AI will naturally lead more companies to explore cloud infrastructure.
These are just a few cloud trends and industry developments we see based on our experience working with our clients at WatServ. As the Gartner predictions suggest, spending on cloud services will be more than 50% up compared to 2020 so it looks like 2022 is going to be a busy year with a lot of new developments.
The adoption to the cloud is a trend that is not going away. In 2022, organizations of all sizes need to have a plan and strategy in place for their cloud approach. To learn more about WatServ’s migration services, visit our Cloud Consulting Solutions page.
Now, tell us. What are your predictions for 2022 when it comes to the cloud?
About
WatServ is an IT solutions provider that helps organizations digitally transform through cloud technologies and managed services.
Serving clients as a trusted advisor since 2006, WatServ provides experience-tested, strategic solutions across all stages of the digital transformation journey. Clients choose WatServ to migrate infrastructure and applications to the cloud, secure critical data, implement disaster recovery, deploy virtual desktop, enable data-readiness for productivity solutions and manage IT environments.
Our clients span a broad range of industries, and we’re a global supplier of IT services for many Brookfield Portfolio Companies. To help our mid-size clients, we provide scalable offerings that simplify cloud adoption and drive business optimization. For enterprise clients, we co-create cloud solutions that enable stability and efficiency for complex IT tools and processes.
With more than 15 years of experience, WatServ has a track record of delivering quantifiable business results and a superior client experience. Ranked as one of Canada’s Top 100 Solution Providers for the last three years in a row, WatServ is always on.
