Cloud Computing Projections 2013

So, will 2013 finally be the year of cloud computing? And, what effect will this have on business?

There’s plenty of talk out there to suggest positive intentions. At the end of 2012 the EU’s Digital Chief, Neelie Kroes, claimed that “greater use of the internet to store and process data remotely (cloud hosting) could boost the EU’s GDP by 160 billion euros annually by 2020.”

In a recent survey by Gartner, 2000 CIOs (admittedly US ones) stated that their top tech priorities for 2013 include cloud hosting in general, as well as its specific types: software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS). 

How reliable this talk is remains up for discussion but assuming that the predictions come true and cloud hosting, rather than cloud washing, does become a feature of the hosting industry in 2013, what are the effects that it will have on the industry?

Competitiveness of Cloud Hosting Suppliers

There are a lot of us out there – cloud hosting suppliers – and that means we have to be competitive to survive. This is one element of cloud hosting development that Neelie Kroes alluded to as part of her claim above: “without  EU action [towards greater use of the internet to store and process data remotely], we will stay stuck in national fortresses and miss out on billions in economic gains”. It’s not just the financial competitiveness though; the industry needs to be competitive in all the areas below in order to grow.

Cost Cutting within a Cloud Hosting Environment

Simply put, when a business moves to the cloud, its overhead IT expenditure is dramatically reduced by the mere fact of not having to maintain or hire a costly infrastructure. It’s important to say, however, that a move to the cloud isn’t appropriate for all cases.  There are many cases where a dedicated server or a colocation solution is both more effective and, in the bigger picture, cheaper.

Innovation & Variety

The less time, personnel and resources being channelled into maintaining an IT infrastructure, the more can be diverted to research and innovation.  There’s such an amazing level of innovation out there at the moment (Raspberry Pi and GoCardless as a couple of UK examples, not specifically linked to cloud computing) and we need to see that innovation within the cloud too. Already we have notionally three types of cloud computing – Public, Private and Hybrid – to choose from. Where will innovation lead us next?

Speed of Business

Cloud hosting promises unprecedented speed of business and streamlining of operations. Even in our own Python Cloud Server blurb we claim “you’ll be in the Python Cloud in minutes”. It may be a bit of a sound bite, but we say it for a reason: it’s true. Provisioning time for a cloud hosted solution is considerably less than for a dedicated server and ultimately you end up with a more agile and scalable solution which will benefit your business.

Environment

Less servers, less environmentally costly data centre space, use of renewable energy sources and less paperwork all lead to more digital transmission and an admirable culture of sustainability which is likely to become more and more sought after in the cloud hosting arena. Tech Week Europe has a Green Project category in its Tech Success Awards and Cloud Expo Europe 2013 has its exhibitors publicising the green initiative of the cloud.

Will 2013 finally be the year of the cloud? At the very least let’s hope that it becomes the year of cloud experimentation. With the scalable, flexible and cost-effective tenets of a cloud hosting solution so extensive, there really is little reason to not give it a go.