Cloud Computing: The 10-Year Forecast

When new technologies arise, many experts in the field like to make predictions about how the new technology will fare in upcoming years.  At this point, cloud computing may not even be considered “new technology” but you will still often hear it referred to as a “buzzword” or “trend” so expert predictions abound.  In a recent article on the InfoWorld website, David Linthicum takes a huge leap into the future with some thoughts on where cloud computing will be ten years from now.  Linthicum describes two paths he envisions for cloud computing:

In 10 years, pervasive cloud services will be the standard for assembling business solutions. We will leverage core services that either exist within our enterprise or from public cloud providers to assemble and reassemble business solutions. These services will be utility-based, perhaps primitive storage and compute or security and governance or more sophisticated business uses, such as market forecasting services.

While services certainly reside in the clouds today, in 10 years, they should be built around the same set of standards and thus be more compatible, no matter which public provider you leverage. Moreover, they should be dynamically discoverable and self-healing, and they may exist as private services you own and maintain. Alternatively, they could be public services you leverage from any public cloud provider.

In 10 years, cloud-based data will include context to better understand that data. Data today exists largely in siloed systems, which makes it difficult to access and difficult to gather for business intelligence. As more data moves to the cloud, enterprises will understand how to holistically leverage this information, using the ability to instantly query petabytes of private business findings using data services (see previous prediction). We're already on this path today with the big data movement.

Of course, some business data is meaningless unless it's mashed up with external intelligence that provides good context. In 10 years, public data services will include information such as key economic indicators, average sales trends within verticals, or other points that will supply a framework to make sense of your data. You simply mash up that data with your own business information to realize the potential for powerful insights. Again, aspects of this exist today, but this notion is beyond the reach of most IT shops.

If Linthicum’s ideas are to come to fruition, it stands to reason that cloud computing will continue to be improved and refined as a staple solution in business technology.  If you are interested in exploring a cloud based solution for your organization, The Vested Group can help you learn about this technology and explain why NetSuite is our cloud services provider of choice. Contact The Vested Group today so we can answer all of your cloud computing questions and even set up a demo of NetSuite’s products. The Vested Group has offices in Dallas, TX and Tampa, FL ready serve all of your ERP and cloud computing needs!