Cloud computing – The Fad That Wasn’t

Some things in the tech world never really caught on. 

Think QR codes, 3D TVs and MySpace. 

A nice idea at the time, the market nonetheless responded with fizzling disinterest soon after.

Cloud computing had its fair share of detractors, too, especially as enterprise adoption was increasing apace, while the concept seemed so foreign to traditional “lock it in the vault” security measures. A vault in the clouds didn’t seem so secure. Cloud computing’s practical value was questioned. It was also a foreign notion to downscale staff terminals’ computing power, rather than buying for tomorrow’s needs (upgrading). 

Today, the technology has shown ever-increasing value, transforming much of the IT landscape, and completely changing aspects like software deployment and upgrades, and even how data centres are constructed to incorporate the tech. Corporate management, too, is wide awake to the realities cloud computing brings.

The cloud’s evolution is sometimes a result of symbiotic developments in other arenas, and sometimes simply a standalone business decision to adopt the tech. The process of uptake is still unfolding organically across the globe, but cloud software platforms are bringing efficiencies to companies in a number of ways, reducing IT costs and complexity, while also sticking to a formula of tight security and high visibility of data. Companies in the cloud are finding their data more relevant and readily available, and thus their business fitness greater.

Cloud computing might be young, but it’s already mainstream

With cloud initiatives expected to account for all tech spending in 2020, it’s safe to say that the cloud was never a fad, but a solid measure of IT evolution and an attractive option in its own right. The cloud is becoming the default option for individual public users, IT managers, corporate decision-makers and especially multinational enterprise. Ask a group of professionals offering IT support in London, New York or Shanghai what percentage of their work revolves around cloud computing in 2020, and it becomes obvious that the cloud is now a must-have consideration for commercial efficiency. 

Here’s why:

1. Hybrid cloud solutions open a vast array of solutions for businesses, in particular, enabling greater efficiencies that translate into marketplace effectiveness. Equipment costs are lowered, as are maintenance costs typically associated with an expanding data management capacity. Clients leverage the expertise of cloud providers’ support staff and free up their own, while cloud downtime is rare.
2. The vigilance demanded of any modern business dealing with cybersecurity is appeased by cloud computing. Not only is tight access and encryption standard from the cloud provider, but the business will also typically add its own measures of securing access to cloud data, making for an overall improvement in data security.
3. Fundamental control over how data is accessed, by whom, and to what extent has become a clear and easy process. With such tiered structures inbuilt, the management of data within an organisation is simplified and costs are reduced.
4. Any business able to simply upgrade to greater cloud storage and application has a serious advantage over others that are still thinking in terms of the number of heads and accompanying equipment needed. Capex comes right down in comparison to previous models of business growth, as the scalability offered by cloud computing is unrivalled by processes of in-house expansion. Fluctuating market demand for a company’s service or products has also become less scary, as the cloud easily performs across a wide spectrum of desires. Rapidly expanding or shrinking computing ability is now a cinch in the cloud. 
5. Cloud computing greatly enhances mobility, making for highly effective remote employees. With an always-on data centre, staff can utilise any personal device to glean work details 24/7. IT staff can concentrate on a process of optimisation rather than handling breakdown or offline issues, as cloud computing substantially alleviates the traditional IT workload.
6. Almost as bad as losing data to a cyber-criminal, is simply losing data. In previous episodes of disaster recovery, it was always a matter of hoping that all key elements had been serviced to enable full recovery of working and archived data. The cloud eliminates the vagaries of device failure and human error and makes disaster recovery a breeze in comparison to the dark moment it used to represent.

Cloud computing as a business tool comes with a competitive edge

It often takes companies a moment of investigation to realise that cloud adoption comes with access to world-class enterprise technology – a huge benefit in its own right. In particular, a small business can avoid huge startup costs on tech if it adopts cloud computing early on. Moreover, enough time has now passed to evaluate the differences between startups that embrace the cloud and those that adopt the old school build of keeping software and hardware in-house.

In a nutshell, those that implement cloud computing when starting out typically emerge ahead of their competitors a year or two down the line. Where IT expenditure could increase unexpectedly and alarmingly in the previous era, it is now easily mitigated by cloud solutions. Rendering data storage as an independent, sole-focus and highly secure third-party function has been one of the biggest boons to business over the last decade.

When tech giants are investing heavily and growing capacity in a field – for example, Amazon’s AWS or Google’s cloud – it’s a good indicator of value. Elegantly simplifying in many respects, cloud computing is likely to see increasing inter-operability as the social apps and aspects of people’s lives become aligned with the tech, or simply make demands of it.

Over 80 percent of global enterprise is predicted to be in the cloud by 2025. Security concerns have been addressed, the notion of an “off-site” locale has shifted from a local warehouse to a remote cloud, and the ease and scale inherent to that cloud is the pleasing business to no end. Multi-cloud strategies are evolving too, and public cloud adoption surpassed 90 percent two years ago in 2018. Utilising a cloud-based solution can save the business a lot of time, money and internal heartache, and the concept continues to demonstrate its effectiveness over in-house infrastructure.