Wholehearted embrace of the cloud is underway

The time for thinking about the cloud as a technology to adopt in the near future may now be over. Cloud computing, in all its many forms, has arrived. If you don't have a strong strategy to align your company's operations with cloud progress, you may find yourself overtaken by more agile rivals.

More than anecdotal evidence
The cloud has been gaining momentum for years, and the numbers support this impression. According to an IHS survey, 2014 will see companies spending a total of $174.2 billion on this technology. This is a 20 percent increase from last year's numbers, which were already robust at $145.2 billion. This level of spending shows a vote of confidence. To commit this much, firms have to be sure that they want the advantages the cloud confers.

"With the cloud touching nearly every consumer and enterprise around the globe, spending for cloud-related storage, servers, applications and content will be dedicated toward building a framework that is rapidly scalable, highly dynamic, available on-demand and requiring minimal management," said IHS Senior Director and Principal Analyst for the Cloud and Big Data Jagdish Rebello.

The IHS report predicted that the next few years will see a solidifying of the cloud's identity, with its adopters chasing the efficiency it brings and cloud providers learning to allay the security and privacy doubts that haunted the cloud during its early years as a tech topic.

How the cloud can help you
Of course, any new technological development is useless without value cases specific to individual businesses. Fortunately, the cloud has reached a stage where these are clear and easy to identify. For example, the Software-as-a-Service model has become a leading way to distribute software to staff members who need it. Web apps hosted in the cloud enable easy updates and improved connectivity. Instead of working with programs deployed on each and every endpoint in the business, end-users access the app directly, all sharing the experience.

Your development teams may find that a different cloud model makes the creation process easier and more collaborative. Platform-as-a-Service products represent a vital tool for updated philosophies such as agile and DevOps, fixated as they are on cutting down on hand-offs between departments and streamlining the sometimes long march to a final software release.

With the cloud providing an ideal space for both application use and development, its popularity within the business community is understandable and wholly sensible.

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