Cloud computing adoption is projected to transform businesses of all sizes over the next few years. While efficiency gains are being seen today, new capabilities are emerging. Cloud computing influences IT service delivery models and data center operations. Over the next three years, hybrid cloud computing, cloud services brokerages, and cloud-centric design will accelerate. More applications and increased innovation are expected to come from greater cloud adoption and development.

1. What is next for Cloud Computing?
While use of the cloud today is generally associated with the ability to reduce costs and improve
efficiency, widespread adoption of this technology is projected to have a transformative effect on
all businesses of all sizes.
"We're seeing efficiency gains continue, but we're also starting to see the emergence of new
capabilities," says Steve King, a partner at Emergent.

2. "Cloud computing is a major technology trend that has permeated the market over the last two
years. It sets the stage for a new approach to IT that enables individuals and businesses to choose
how they'll acquire or deliver IT services, with reduced emphasis on the constraints of traditional
software and hardware licensing models," said David Cearley, vice president and Gartner
Fellow. "Cloud computing has a significant potential impact on every aspect of IT and how users
access applications, information and business services."
"The trend and related technologies continue to evolve and change rapidly, and there is
continuing confusion and misunderstanding as vendors increasingly hype 'cloud' as a marketing
term," said David Mitchell Smith, vice president and Gartner Fellow. "This level of impact,
confusion, uncertainty and change make cloud computing one of Gartner's top 10 strategic
technology trends to address."
Gartner has identified the following cloud computing Trends that will be accelerating, shifting
or reaching a tipping point over the next three years and that users must factor into their planning
processes:
Cloud Investment Optimization
The cloud promises to deliver a range of benefits, including a shift from capital-intensive to
operational cost models, lower overall cost, greater agility and reduced complexity. It can also be
used to shift the focus of IT resources to higher-value-added activities for the business, or to
support business innovation and, potentially, lower risks.
Cloud Services Brokerage
As cloud computing adoption proliferates, so does the need for consumption assistance. A cloud
services brokerage (CSB) is a service provider that plays an intermediary role in cloud
computing. Interest in the CSB concept increased last year, and Gartner expects this trend to
accelerate over the next three years as more individuals, whether they are in IT or a line-of-
business unit, consume cloud services without involving IT.
Cloud-Centric Design
Many organizations look first for opportunities to migrate existing enterprise workloads to a
cloud system and/or an application infrastructure. This approach may provide benefits where the
workload has a highly variable resource requirement, or where the application naturally lends
itself to horizontal scalability. However, to fully exploit the potential of a cloud model,
applications need to be designed with the unique characteristics, limitations and opportunities of
a cloud model in mind.

3. Cloud Computing will influence future Data Centers and Operation Models
In public cloud computing, an enterprise is acting as a consumer of services, with the cloud
services provider handling the implementation details, including the data center and related
operational models. However, to the extent that the enterprise continues to build its own data
centers, they will be influenced by the implementation models used by cloud services providers.
Cloud Access Security Brokers
Cloud access security brokers are on-premises or cloud-based security policy enforcement points
placed between cloud services consumers and cloud services providers to interject enterprise
security policies as the cloud-based resources are accessed. In many cases, initial adoption of
cloud-based services has occurred outside the control of IT, and cloud access security brokers
offer enterprises to gain visibility and control as its users access cloud resources.
Hybrid Cloud Computing
Gartner defines a hybrid cloud computing service as a cloud service that spans both private and
public cloud implementations, or both on-premises private and off-premises private or public
cloud implementations. A hybrid cloud service can, among other things, synchronize and/or
replicate data between public and private clouds, and migrate services on a continuous basis
between public and private clouds.
Over time, hybrid cloud computing could lead to a unified model in which there is a single
"cloud" made up of multiple cloud platforms (internal or external) that can be used, as needed,
based on changing business requirements. Gartner recommends that enterprises focus near-term
efforts on application and data integration, linking fixed internal and external applications with a
hybrid solution. Where public cloud application services or custom applications running on
public cloud infrastructures are used, guidelines and standards should be established for how
these elements will combine with internal systems to form a hybrid environment.

4. In the past three years, private cloud computing has moved from an aspiration to a tentative
reality for nearly half of the world's large organizations. Hybrid cloud computing, however, is
where private cloud was three years ago — aspirations are high but deployments low.
What is next for Cloud Computing?
 More application availability on the cloud: With most new software being built for
cloud from the outset, it is predicted that by 2016 over a quarter of all applications
(around 48 million) will be available on the cloud.
 Increased growth in the market for cloud: According to Gartner, the cloud is here, and
it is accelerating globally. Based on their forecast for 2011-2017, Gartner expects
adoption to hit $250 billion by 2017.
 More hybrid cloud adoption: Gartner proposes that 50 percent of enterprises will have
hybrid clouds by 2017. As we see more and more companies adopt cloud, we see CIOs
crafting well-thought-out strategies that include cloud.
 Increased development for the cloud: More development is going to go to the cloud.
According to Evans Data Corporation, there are more than 18 million software
developers worldwide yet less than 25 percent are developing for the cloud today.
Especially when you consider that 85 percent of the new software being built today is for
cloud according to IDC
 More innovation because of cloud: Increased competition in the cloud space will give
way to better products, services and innovation.
References
http://thoughtsoncloud.com/2014/05/future-cloud-computing-5-predictions/
http://www.inc.com/graham-winfrey/why-the-cloud-will-transform-small-business-by-2020.html
http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/1971515
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/slideshows/show.aspx?c=95261
http://www.randgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/cloud-computing-computer-button.jpg
http://www.rightscale.com/blog/cloud-industry-insights/cloud-computing-trends-2014-state-
cloud-survey