Cloud computing doesn’t seem to be such a mystery anymore. Now it has a larger number of users and it is possible to get a more general insight into the functions of cloud. So much time has been dedicated to discovering pros and cons of each cloud computing function, but now there is enough information to make more reliable statements about it. Various researches have been examining to what extent the cloud is integrated into our lives and what we should expect from it in future.
Who’s afraid of cloud computing?
A recent survey carried out by North Bridge Venture Partners shows that the users are gaining more trust in the cloud. The research included 785 respondents and was supported by 39 companies, including giants like Amazon Web Services and Rackspace. 50% of the respondents reported that now they have “complete confidence” in the cloud. In comparison to the last year’s results, the companies showed significantly different attitudes towards the cloud. Last year only 13% of managers believed the cloud was safe, while this year there’s only 3% of those who find the cloud too risky. It seems that the security paranoia related to the cloud decreases in its intensiveness, but it still exists to a certain extent. According to the survey security is still a major inhibitor to adopting the cloud.
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Cloud storage most widely used
If the trend of increasing trust in the cloud continues, we might expect that one day all the data will be in the cloud. This prediction is similar to the one the respondents made – they believe two thirds of the data in the next 5 years will be stored in cloud. Storage and backup are most widely used services and the major drivers to adopting the cloud are agility and scalability. Business continuity and collaboration are also regarded as important areas where cloud services help. The costs are still important to the users, though the number of respondents reporting the cut in overall costs is slightly lower than the last year.
Important trends
One of the most interesting trends is the shift of focus to big data and analytics. As users are more confident about the cloud they are more inclined to move all kinds of data to it. The unstructured data pile up and the cloud is seen as one of the most practical solutions for storing them. Another interesting fact is that now a growing attention is paid to hybrid cloudand it is expected to remain in focus of future cloud strategies. The cloud revenues are projected to grow and we may assume that so would the confidence in the cloud. Cloud computing is widely integrated into our everyday lives and has become a “household item” for many businesses. It is clear that the cloud has gone mainstream even though there are many questions to ask before moving data to it. Obviously, different experiences with the cloud result in different attitudes towards it.
