Cloud Computing will continue to be an important asset for businesses in 2021. Companies will look for ways to lay a foundation for increasing business profitability and agility
Cloud computing, which underpinned the world’s economy, and remote workforces during the COVID-19 pandemic, will continue to be a crucial target for organizations looking for business continuity, increased scalability, and cost-efficiency in 2021.
Misha Cetrone, VP of Cloud Product, Megaport, says, “It’s no surprise, the shift to the cloud will continue at full speed, fuelled by remote work. A recent Gartner survey indicates that almost 70% of organizations using cloud services today plan to increase their cloud spending in the wake of the disruption caused by COVID-19.
“Vastly easier cloud-to-cloud connectivity – something that has traditionally been very complicated – will open up new opportunities to mix and match clouds, allowing IT organizations to maximize performance while gaining more control over their cloud spend. This will trigger rapid expansion of multi-cloud environments, particularly among smaller and mid-sized organizations that previously lacked the internal technical resources to make cloud services interoperate effectively”, he adds.
The majority of the organizations utilize the hybrid cloud computing system to upkeep their workflow and production. Business leaders believe that by 2021, organizations will take on hybrid cloud computing.
The increasing demand for hybrid cloud could lead the world’s biggest providers to break out from their walled garden approach partially. Through collaboration and interoperability, they can fulfil multi-cloud demands, enabling better data sharing and access between partners, who function across diverse applications and standards.
As businesses leverage a multi-cloud strategy to improve operations, they need to consider the security implications.
Paul Colwell, CTO at OGL Computer and CyberGuard Technologies, says, “Criminals will undoubtedly continue to exploit remote workers with targeted phishing attacks, especially during a period where a staggered return to work is being managed. Security teams should properly configure cloud services and remote working protocols for handling data and phishing train staff; so they don’t assume technology alone will protect them.”
Businesses need to consider the importance of centralized authentication to maintain control over the admins, users, and systems that access various resources across multiple cloud platforms. They also need to have in place high-value defences such as DDoS protection and web application firewalls.
Synchronizing security settings and policies across providers, using different security policies for various applications, and monitoring and centralizing threats are crucial to securing hybrid or the multi-cloud environment.
Businesses need to understand that their security efforts are in vain as employees tend to overlook simple rules when accessing a secure IT infrastructure. Regular security awareness training held by the company can help employees be aware of their online environment.
Cloud computing will improve in 2021 as it integrates with IoT and Big Data. Tech giants will join the consolidated services, making it a trend. Both Big Data and IoT are on-going advances, and a few companies are running on their help.
If cloud computing integrates with big data and IoT, businesses can improve their production. It will enable them to gain admittance to the crucial information of their adversaries and put more exertion into settling on better business choices for what’s to come.
Prangya Pandab is an Associate Editor with OnDot Media. She is a seasoned journalist with almost seven years of experience in the business news sector. Before joining ODM, she was a journalist with CNBC-TV18 for four years. She also had a brief stint with an infrastructure finance company working for their communications and branding vertical.
