In 2013 cloud computing became a reality for many organizations. In 2014 it will become even more integrated into our existing IT practices. It will be the year IT departments, CIO and other executives formally develop strategies for embracing, managing and deploying the cloud.
We are in a new era; a time where customers and the tools that help businesses better understand them are rapidly changing. In order to keep up and be agile enough to reach new buyers in this new period, companies must recognize that cloud technologies and services are the fastest way to do so. In 2014, the cloud will be disruptive as businesses put it to work.
Here are some of the things we’ll see in 2014:
- In-House Encryption. With the NSA dominating headlines this year for ‘spying’ on its own citizens, cloud encryption solutions will dominate the landscape in 2014. Companies will seek to encrypt data even before it makes its way into the cloud, which will thereby enhance the need — and spur offerings from — encryption providers with the ability to encrypt corporate data before it moves into the ubiquitous cloud.
- SaaS will continue to reap havac on on-premise. I’ve written before about how midsize companies find value in cloud ERP and this trend will increase. SaaS has already started to takeover on-premise in various categories, such as CRM, and it will continue to do so in 2014. Even long-term enterprise suite providers such as Microsoft are increasingly shifting focus to SaaS, or at least, hybrid software models.
- IoT will continue to grow with cloud being its harbinger for success. Whether we’re talking about consumer products like Pebble or FuelBand, or enterprise products in the areas of transportation and medicine, the Internet of Things will start to take shape in 2014 with data being uploaded into the cloud.
- Cloud security will be greatly improved. Security within the cloud will be greatly improved, potentially putting an end to the long-running excuses of not using cloud due to security concerns. Cloud providers have already greatly improved security and private clouds continue to become safer and more reliable. With this comes better security for enterprises using the cloud, and and likely will lead to an increase in cloud usage by enterprises, both the small to mid-sized and larger organizations.
Lee House is the Vice President of Advanced Distribution Software, which provides distribution ERP for electrical goods distributors, machinery suppliers and the automotive industry.
[Image: Flickr | damienpollet]
