Over the past several years, cloud computing has grown from a concept familiar mostly to the tech-savvy crowd to one of the hottest terms discussed throughout the business world. Projections indicate that by 2016, cloud computing will grow to become a $19.5B market, representing the bulk of new IT spending.
Many businesses are moving towards the cloud contact center model, using cloud computing to cut costs, integrate platforms and improve IT-related customer service. For years, companies have relied primarily on private clouds, but that trend is also changing.
Gartner predicts that nearly half of large enterprises will use hybrid cloud deployments by the end of 2017, and that private clouds will increasingly be used, but only for specific purposes. The hybrid cloud model allows companies to retain the security of a private cloud for their most sensitive information while enjoying the cost savings of public clouds for their less sensitive data.
“There is a flawed perception of cloud computing as one large phenomenon,” said Chris Howard, research vice president at Gartner. “Cloud computing is actually a spectrum of things complementing one another and building on a foundation of sharing…the public cloud, hybrid clouds, and private clouds now dot the landscape of IT based solutions. Because of that, the basic issues have moved from ‘what is cloud’ to ‘how will cloud projects evolve.’”
Only time will tell exactly how cloud computing will evolve. Its growing role in business, however, seems like a virtual certainty.
