2021 and Beyond: Trends to Watch in Cloud Services

The workers of the world have been driven online, away from location-based servers. We look at how the cloud service market is poised to change in 2021.

Did you know that studies suggest the cloud service market will grow from $371.4 billion to $832.1 billion by 2025?

Cloud technology will change everything from how we work to how we pay for software.

Organization leaders need a guide to cloud service trends to watch in 2021 and beyond. Read this post and prepare to set Google Alerts for keywords you will want to know in the 2020s.

Hybrid Cloud Computing Domination

A hybrid cloud includes coordinating a mix of private cloud services, on-premises infrastructure, and a public cloud like Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure.

Hybrid cloud computing seems poised to enter a golden age in 2021. Most experts agree that more organizations will jump into a hybrid cloud computing system to stay competitive.

Benefits of Hybrid Cloud Computing

The main advantages of hybrid cloud computing include:

• Customization options
• Lower latency to boost data speed
• Unlimited access to on-demand scalability
• Increased reliability with several data centers
• No need to buy or maintain expensive equipment
• Dual security coverage of both private and public clouds

Considerations for Hybrid Computing

If you’re on the fence about hybrid cloud computing, consider the following:

• Do you need scalability for different workloads?
• Do you have a smaller group of applications to move a public cloud service to get started?
• Where do you feel comfortable storing sensitive information versus running applications?
• Have you given full consideration to the ways a hybrid cloud can benefit your organization?

Serverless Computing’s Rise in Popularity

The term serverless confuses the purpose of this service because you still employ servers in this model.

Here’s the crucial difference: developers have the freedom to build and run applications without having to think about the servers.

Your team doesn’t have to worry about management tasks like patching or capacity provisioning. That means that your organization finally has the freedom to focus on writing code that improves your customer service and business processes.

Benefits of Serverless Computing

Serverless computing offers organizations the following advantages:

• No more buying, maintaining, or upgrading servers
• Higher error tolerance thanks to flexible infrastructure
• Lower costs by only paying for the resources you need
• Access to service assurance tools like debugging, logging, and tracing
• Dynamic scalability at your service within seconds to match your workload
• Deliver new functionality faster due to less dependency on development cycles

FaaS (Function as a Service) Upgrades

FaaS represents a subset of what you will hear called “serverless” computing. Expect to see upgrades and improvements in 2021 and beyond.

According to a Cision study, FaaS services should have a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 32.7%. Function as a Service should complete a growth spurt to $7.72 billion from $1.88 billion in 2016.

Developers decide how much CPU and RAM they need for a function, choose triggers for the event, and upload the source code. Organizations only receive charges when their code runs on the platform down to the milliseconds. Applications remain stateless until an event triggers its activation by your provider.

Benefits of FaaS

Most organizations use FaaS as a tool to migrate applications to the cloud. You’ll also enjoy the following benefits:

• Scale up or down as needed within seconds
• Only pay to use applications when you need them
• Focus on your code instead of managing your architecture
• High availability means reliable infrastructure can deploy around the world without incremental operational cost

DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service)

Does your organization have the expertise to configure and test a DRP (disaster recovery plan)? Most don’t, so you can expect DRaaS to gain an avalanche of popularity.

You should expect updates around DRaaS to follow hot on the heels of FaaS offerings. Both should start to find a home in organizations in 2021.

DRaaS offers an opportunity to improve the safety of your cloud computing environment. Service providers replicate hosting to provide a failsafe during a disaster.

How Do You Evaluate DRaaS Services?

Use the following proven tips to evaluate DRaaS services for your organization in 2021 and beyond:

1. DRaaS costs vary, so keep a close eye out for hidden fees
2. Find a DRaaS provider who offers services for a wide variety of applications
3. Include monthly automated testing to have confidence your applications will recover as expected
4. Investigate purpose-built cloud options for integrations between support, recovery times, and backups
5. Review the service level agreement (SLA) and pay close attention to the performance guaranteed by your provider

More Virtual Cloud Desktops

Think about what it took to provide access to a handful of applications to an employee in the past. You may remember buying new laptops and Microsoft Office licenses for limited uses. Did you wish that you could rent Office for those staff members?

Virtual cloud desktops give you that flexibility. You can take advantage of hourly subscriptions that only charge your organization when your employees need to use designated applications.

Expensive hardware updates and redundant technology should begin their journey to the past in 2021.

You may hear this called “desktop as a service.” Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have options that offer the following benefits:

• Central management of security
• Ensuring technology updates across your organization
• Flexible scalability as a company expands or contracts

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) isn’t a novel product for 2021, but it will gain more prominence throughout the 2020s.

Benefits of Virtual Cloud Desktops

Using a virtual cloud desktop gives your organization the following advantages:

• Easy scalability and flexibility
• Increased security from cyberattacks
• Protect business continuity with backups
• More storage space for files and applications
• Reduce your cost for hardware, support, and infrastructure
• Uninterrupted productivity and collaboration for your employees

Changes to the Big 3 Cloud Providers

The “Big 3” cloud service providers in 2020 included Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Experts agree that Alibaba Cloud should take the third spot away from Google in 2021.

Alibaba experienced unprecedented growth in 2020 due to an acceleration of digitization in Chinese businesses. Their revenue grew 59% to achieve $2.19 billion as of September 30th. New online customers, retail industries, and finance companies drove most of the growth.

Don’t feel too bad for Google. They still expect a healthy 40% growth in 2021. The new realities of the world market will introduce themselves, though.

AI Improves the Cloud

Have you heard the term “responsible AI” recently? The purpose isn’t to try and make something like Skynet from The Terminator sound friendly. We’re not talking about that yet.

You can expect AI to play a role in how cloud technology adapts to an organization’s needs starting in 2021.

As more people embrace different cloud-as-a-service platforms, users will have increased access to machine learning functions. Examples include recommendation engines, language processing, and image recognition tools.

Pay close attention to changes to city infrastructure, autonomous vehicles, and the pandemic response. Machine learning AI will play a crucial role in the logistics that keep cloud data centers running. Organizations may see mind-blowing breakthroughs in data center speed starting in 2021.

Gaming Moves to the Cloud

Google Stadia hasn’t received the reception the tech giant hoped wanted, but more big players will make moves in 2021. Microsoft, Amazon, and Nvidia launched services in 2020.

Music made an inevitable move to the cloud, and gaming services may make big moves in the same direction for the next five years. $500 consoles may become a thing of the past after the latest generations from Sony and Microsoft run their course.

Watch this canary in the coal mine for the future of the cloud market.

Questions to Ask in 2021 (and Beyond)

When you consider your options in 2021 and the years to follow, ask yourself the following to evaluate the future of cloud services in your organization:

1. Do you still use legacy applications or specialized software?
2. Do you have enterprise applications running in multiple clouds?
3. Do you need the flexibility to scale up for periods of higher usage?
4. Do you plan to develop microservices on cloud-based architecture?
5. How many applications do you believe your team will need for the next five years?
6. Do you know the type of applications and end-user support you will need in the future?
7. Do you have a regulatory standard or compliance obligation to report settings for your application, operating system, database, or infrastructure?

Do You Have More Questions About the Cloud Service Market?

For 2021 and beyond, it’s critical to watch hybrid cloud computing, serverless computing, virtual desktops, upgrades to FaaS, more DraaS options, and streaming gaming services. Don’t delay setting your Google alerts today.

Do you have more burning questions that you want to ask? The cloud service market doesn’t have to feel confusing or lonely. Contact us today through our website or give us a call at 1-844-25-CLOUD.