10 Cloud Computing Trends That Are Rapidly Catching On

by Chris Preimesberger

The hybrid cloud model is here to stay. We will see the use of private clouds by some large companies and the use of public clouds by some smaller companies. Moving some applications such as CRM and collaboration to the cloud will deliver strong business value while others involving sensitive and proprietary information will remain on premise until security, compliance and governance issues in the cloud are resolved. Rapid integration of cloud-based and on-premise applications will be vital to success.

The rise of private clouds in the enterprise will be meteoric. Large companies will want to enjoy the benefits of cloud computing—multitenancy and elasticity—in their own environment rather than in a public cloud. IBM, Cisco and VMware will be major players in the private cloud market while public cloud providers such as Amazon will offer private versions to compete.

CRM will be joined by human capital management and collaboration in driving cloud application adoption. While Salesforce.com and Oracle CRM will continue to drive the adoption of cloud-based CRM, Taleo and Success Factors will drive the adoption of HCM. In addition, Google Apps and Cisco WebEx will drive the adoption of messaging and collaboration apps by midsize and large enterprises.

The single greatest obstacle to the adoption of cloud computing and SAAS applications—integration—will no longer be an issue for end customers of cloud computing and SAAS applications. ISVs and cloud platform providers will deliver the integration of applications in the cloud and on premise by licensing integration solutions that offer customers simplicity, speed and deployment flexibility.

Traditional IT infrastructure vendors such as Cisco, Dell, HP and IBM will push into the cloud in a big way now that its viability has been established. Investments will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Pioneering vendors that developed the market will see greater competition as well as expanded opportunities as millions of businesses and consumers adopt cloud computing.

Large existing channels will provide new opportunities for cloud-based applications. As the megabrands enter the cloud market, they will bring their huge existing channels with them. Rather than investing millions in building out their own proprietary channels, pioneering brands will leverage business alliances, licensing innovative technology for access to new customers.

The killer app of the cloud will be the integrated ecosystem—the new front office—comprised of cloud-based platforms for connecting best-in-class applications and developing custom applications to deliver cost-effective computing and unprecedented functionality. No one application will dominate; all of the essential applications working together will be the killer app of the cloud.

Cloud-based security platforms providing fail-safe access, authorization, and authentication will make their debut in the enterprise. Version 1.0 will not assuage all doubts but will make a strong start by simplifying identity management. Single sign-on in the cloud will be a hot requirement.

Social networking will become mainstream in the enterprise and find its way into the cloud. The widespread use of social networks will further expand from unofficial to HR and marketing, requiring the establishment—and enforcement—of standardized enterprise guidelines.

Windows Azure will cause a shift in cloud computing due to the vast number of .Net developers (more than six million). Net developers will now finally have the chance to jump into the cloud without having to learn new platforms or tools. The cloud platform race will be a tight one between the Java camp led by Google and Amazon Web Services and the Windows Azure camp.