2021 was a big year for the cloud industry. Due in part to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, organizations have found value in moving to the cloud for things such as transitioning to remote work because some model of hybrid work is here to stay for many workers.
Most of the major cloud providers all boasted significant revenue growth in 2021 and 2022 is poised to be another huge year for the cloud industry.
Here are some key trends to look out for this year:
1. Containers and Cloud-Native Technology Will Continue to Grow
The continued growth of containers will be a big trend to watch out for in 2022. In 2021, 42% of developers said that their organizations used containers, and according to Forrester Research that will grow to over half of all organizations in 2022.
Containers provide a portable and agile way to deploy and manage virtual computing applications in the cloud. With a container, an application runs quickly and reliably from one computing environment to another.
Kubernetes is the primary method for users and cloud providers to enable containers by automating many of the manual processes involved in deploying, managing, and scaling containerized applications. Kubernetes can run on platforms like Red Hat OpenShift or Enterprise Linux.
2. Cloud-native Security
Cloud-native security is another area that will see significant growth in tandem with the growth of containers and cloud-native technology.
For example, StackRox, recently acquired by Red Hat, is poised for growth as a Kubernetes-native security platform for cloud-native applications, containers, and Kubernetes. StackRox provides security across the container life cycle. Their container security platform reduces the attack surface, ensures compliance, and stops attacks.
3. Hybrid is Here for Good
Hybrid is here to stay. Whether it be hybrid work, hybrid cars, or hybrid cloud; hybrid is the future. Combining the strengths of different approaches has always been how the most innovative companies continue their success.
Hybrid cloud enables the integration of both on-prem and public cloud computing resources. There are many advantages to having a hybrid approach to cloud data and analytics such as:
- Better support for remote and hybrid workers
- Increased agility and innovation
- Improved scalability and control
- Better security and risk management
Red Hat’s hybrid cloud solution allows organizations to build applications quickly, manage workloads efficiently, and deploy/automate anywhere.
4. ESG Sustainability Efforts Will Grow
In cloud and in society as a whole, there is a growing movement for environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). Climate change is obviously a growing problem, so the major public cloud providers have increasingly been pushing their own sustainability efforts and providing new visibility to users. This includes things like carbon footprint dashboards which show organizations how their cloud usage is impacting the environment.
Monitoring energy usage is environmentally and fiscally responsible, as lower energy usage benefits the planet and keeps costs down for organizations.
In 2022, expect there to be even more sustainability efforts from the major cloud providers.
5. “The Great Resignation” Will Drive Further Cloud Adoption
The “Great Resignation” is a new term we’ve heard a lot recently to describe the trend of workers resigning from their jobs. So, what’s driving this mass exodus of people from their jobs?
Baby boomers taking early retirement, parents staying home for their kids because of limited options for childcare, and fears of contracting Covid-19 are some of the many factors that have led to this phenomenon.
IT teams are no exception in experiencing workforce shortages and will continue to experience a loss of talented workers that understand their legacy platforms in 2022. Many organizations will turn to cloud platforms and automated solutions to make up for labor shortages they experience as these tools require less manpower to manage.
Why Perficient and Cloud?
Cloud has evolved to become so much more than a place to collaborate on documents or somewhere to store personal information. Today, cloud is a collection of tools that both improve business processes and enable a larger digital transformation.
Together, we’re unlocking the potential cloud brings to your business. Our work with some of the world’s biggest technology innovators means we can bring the right technology solution to your cloud strategy.
Perficient + Red Hat
Red Hat is the leading provider of enterprise open-source software solutions delivering reliable and high-performing cloud, Linux, container, and Kubernetes technologies. As a Red Hat Premier Partner and a Red Hat Apex Partner, we help drive strategic initiatives around cloud-native development, DevOps, and enterprise integration to ensure successful application modernization and cloud implementations and migrations.
We offer targeted platform as a service (PaaS) solutions for the enterprise using Red Hat OpenShift, which are founded on our best practices, methodology, and reusable frameworks to accelerate, migrate, and automate processes.
