Cloud Computing

Companies are now realizing that adopting cloud technologies can benefit any type of organization: small or large, traditional or tech-savvy, new or established. As more and more businesses become familiar with cloud services, there is naturally going to be more curiosity about the industry. 2016 is already shaping up to be another eventful year for cloud technology, and widespread enterprise adoption is leading to several interesting trends in the world of cloud computing.

1. Simplicity reigns supreme

The great thing about product proliferation is that you can always find an option to suit your needs. For the cloud, this means we now have services that cater to seasoned programmers as well as professionals with limited technical experience. In some instances, when a user needs to integrate existing data into a cloud database or perform a data backup, all it takes is a simple drag and drop.

2. Industry giants are catching up with the cloud

While startups have long been on the cutting edge of adopting new business technology like cloud services, large organizations have been slower to jump onboard. Now, however, the potential cost savings, infrastructure upgrades, and convenience of the cloud are common knowledge to most business leaders. The rate of adoption is accelerated as more large companies see their peers and competitors utilizing cloud solutions as well.

3. Companies are seeing the value of hybrid solutions

It turns out you can have your cake and eat it too. Not every cloud product is right for every situation, and organizations are more comfortable than ever in employing hybrid models to meet their needs. Companies can use public cloud systems for areas where simplicity and cost are the driving factors, and private cloud systems for sensitive data that needs an extra layer of security.

4. Cloud spending isn’t slowing down anytime soon

Cloud services spending as a percentage of enterprise IT spending reached incredible highs in 2015, and experts forecast that 2016 will be another banner year for the cloud. Much of this spending is driven by large companies who may not have updated their IT infrastructure in many years.

5. Security protocols are becoming more standardized

As more organizations migrate their data management operations to the cloud, the necessity of a standardized set of practices for optimal security emerges. Companies want to prove to their customers that they take data security seriously, and collaborating to reach a set of conventional protocols is an important step on that journey.

6. The role of enterprise IT is shifting

The decision to implement cloud solutions is moving away from IT management and towards the business unit level. This is causing the function of enterprise IT departments to evolve, and many IT managers are now more free to develop innovative technological strategies that help other departments solve problems more easily.

If you want to stay on trend as cloud computing reaches new heights, contact the experts at Great Lakes Computer.

It’s no secret that the growth of cloud computing has been one of the most significant stories in the tech world for several years now. At this point, even the people who would consider themselves the opposite of early adopters have at least heard of the cloud, and have some idea of how businesses are utilizing cloud computing to transform their operations. 2016 promises to bring new trends that will shake up the IT world, but it’s now a given that cloud technology will play an increasingly important role in business technology for decades to come.

IT spending as a whole will continue to shift towards the cloud

Companies are now allocating a greater percentage of their IT budgets to cloud solutions, and a new study shows that cloud computing will comprise the majority of new IT spending in 2016. Much of this is due to tremendous growth in the international community, especially in countries such as India. Companies are also discovering that more of their business functions can be enhanced by shifting them to cloud platforms, resulting in organizations relying on several cloud solutions at a time. According to the 2016 State of the Cloud Survey, the average respondent now uses six cloud programs in their operations, three public and three private.

Hybrid cloud adoption will increase in popularity

Hybrid cloud adoption has been growing significantly in recent years, but according to new research it is poised to explode in popularity in 2016 and beyond. A recent study by Peer 1 Hosting found that hybrid cloud adoption is expected to triple in the coming years, largely driven by a desire to cut costs and increase functionality. A perception among some managers of reduced security in hybrid solutions is still responsible for most of the reluctance to abandon private, on-premise hosting. However, new efforts by cloud services providers to enhance security measures is helping to quell these fears.

Cloud service providers will diversify their offerings

Now that businesses have become more comfortable trusting their operations to the cloud, cloud service providers are taking advantage of the opportunity to leverage this trust into enhanced suites of services offered to their clients. Many providers are finding a burgeoning market available when they choose to go beyond conventional hosting services in order to provide additional functionality such as managed services, security, application suites, and more.

SMBs will increasingly turn to the cloud to remain competitive

Early on in the life of cloud computing, it was generally only the large players who had the economies of scale necessary (and who were willing to shoulder the risk of the unknown) to get the most out of immature cloud services. Now, any company can take advantage of the benefits of the cloud, as a diversified market of cloud service providers have driven down costs and created customized solutions for any type of business. Great Lakes Computer can help you discover how the ease and simplicity of cloud solutions can transform the way you do business and position your IT operations for the future. 

Cloud computing isn’t just a buzz word anymore. It is where the majority of data processing and storage is headed, if it’s not already there. The cloud offers many advantages over premise-based hosting, the most important of which is Agility. The cloud is scalable and adaptable and in a fast-paced business environment, that is key. But is it safe? It’s safer than you think. Cloud security is adaptive, it can respond as threats or opportunities rise. Here, DataCenterJournal.com tells some of the trends in Cloud Security that we can expect this year:

Emergence of Serverless Frameworks

One of the most challenging innovations in the cloud in 2016 will be the rise of serverless frameworks. They includes elements like Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Lambda and the rise of code-PaaS (code-based platforms-as-a-service), in which IT departments will no longer have to manage an operating system or virtual machine.

This is a big change for cloud security strategy, because it means APIs are becoming an additional area of vulnerability for attacks. It’s an area where IT teams are usually unaccustomed to configuring for and defending against these types of threats.

Host- and Network-Based Security Measures Move to the Control Plane

Another aspect of cloud security that differs from traditional data center environments is that security features are moving into the control plane. This change is opening up more opportunities for IT to get information about risks and vulnerabilities as they arise. And instead of presence-based discovery, as is par in a traditional in-line network, a big advantage for cloud security will come in the form of real-time “firehose streams” of updates on network, host and serverless-process events through APIs.

Cloud-Aware Security Solutions Delivered by Incumbents

Cloud security will be delivered by more than innovative startups, because as cloud infrastructure becomes more important to organizations of all sizes, cloud security solutions will have to evolve to keep up. This evolution will happen from cloud security providers of all sizes, including some of the big incumbent players in the IT security industry. For example, multiple vendors are coming to the market with solutions for Windows- and Linux-based workloads in AWS. Other incumbent vendors will see more pressure from customers who need them to support hybrid deployment models that include traditional data centers and AWS.

Whether it’s by acquiring smaller IT vendors or by developing innovative new products, big security players will become more involved with delivering cloud-based security solutions. And if not, they’re going to risk disruption by faster-moving competitors.

Cloud Security Will Accelerate

Attacks on cloud infrastructure are becoming more sophisticated and automated, and this trend is unlikely to abate in 2016; if anything, attacks on the cloud will become even more intense because more organizations are storing more and more valuable data in cloud infrastructure. But the cloud security landscape will reflect the same tension in that “uneven handshake” of shared security responsibilities. According to research from Gartner, “Through 2020, 80% of cloud breaches will be due to customer misconfiguration, mismanaged credentials or insider theft, not cloud provider vulnerabilities.”

IT organizations need to upgrade their security preparations with real-time alerts and response capabilities while also taking a closer look at their in-house operations, internal configurations and employee security training and credentialing.

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If you’re looking to move your business operations into the cloud, we’re here to help. Whether you’re considering a small step by moving your email server to Office 365 or you’re ready for our complete cloud solution, Great Lakes is ready to guide you and help you make the transition.