Businesses are rapidly moving their IT workloads to the cloud. This explosive growth only seems to be increasing and the graphs tracking the trend seem to be reaching the clouds themselves. As we look ahead to what is in store for IT services it is easy to see that growth in these areas is going to require IT staff to keep up with the pace.
LogicMonitor, a SaaS-based performance monitoring platform for Enterprise IT, recently sponsored a survey, polling both AWS re:Invent attendees and industry analysts, media, consultants and vendor strategists to explore what the landscape for cloud services will look like in 2020. The survey, titled Future of the Cloud Study, found that by 2020 only 27% of IT workloads will happen on-premises.
The question of how long it will take for 95% of all IT workloads happening in the cloud had a more variable answer, however. 20% of the respondents believe it will happen within the next 10 years, with 27% thinking it will happen within the next 5 years. Only 13% thought that we will never reach 95% of IT workloads taking place in the cloud.
What Is Driving the Move to the Cloud?
The survey asked respondents to comment on what factors are currently pushing businesses towards cloud solutions. 63% cited Digital Transformation as a key driver followed closely by IT Agility at 62% and DevOps at 58%. These factors will change in the coming years when by 2020 most cite AI and Machine Learning as the driving force followed closely by IoT integrations.
Why Are Organization Reluctant?
Respondents were also asked to comment on the reasons organizations are challenged by the public cloud. The top concern with the public cloud is still over security. With security breaches happening on a regular basis like the recent ones at Equifax, and Sonic, this is a real problem. Public cloud solutions are also very vulnerable to DDoS attacks like the one that brought almost the whole internet down last year.
Another challenge to cloud adoption appears to be a huge problem in the IT services industry currently. There just aren't enough techs with appropriate cloud skills in the market. Technology moves at such a rapid pace, it can be hard for IT service providers to keep up with the changing needs. As the cloud continues its exponential growth, more techs are needed that have the skills to manage and maintain these environments.
To combat this skills shortage, investing in regular training for IT staff can set your business apart from the competition. As new technologies are introduced, incentives for staff to obtain training in these areas can pay off in big ways. Skilled technicians in cloud and security are in high demand, and it can be a wiser investment to help current staff get educated in these areas instead of trying to find new staff that already has the skills needed.
Can Anyone Catch Up With AWS?
Gartner's research shows Amazon currently holds a 44% share of the overall cloud IaaS market, followed by Microsoft at 7%, Alibaba at 3% and Google trailing at 2%. The survey respondents predict that by 2020 AWS will still gain market share, increasing theirs to 52%, but Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud will have significant gains in their market share. According to the report, Azure will increase its share to 21% and Google will have 18%.
Some of the main reasons AWS continues to reign supreme are that they have some of the broadest cloud services offerings and strong awareness among developers. The company was also first to the market and is enjoying the advantage that has given them.
To view the full report, “Future of the Cloud Study” visit the LogicMonitor website.
