Overview
In the past year as COVID-19 forced companies to operate remotely, business leaders worldwide embraced cloud services to optimize their data assets. Learn why more and more companies are moving to cloud platforms and what to expect in 2021.
The Future of Cloud Services is Clear as Day
Innovative businesses increasingly rely on cloud services. Which ones are right for you in 2021?
Global companies that need to innovate quickly, serve customers at an individual level, and accelerate business goals know that cloud services are essential in today’s hybrid multi-cloud reality. Cloud services offer core capabilities that help organizations optimize their most valuable asset—data. That’s because the services provide databases, data storage, disaster recovery, data analytics, and more in the cloud.
The ability to quickly spin up and shut down cloud environments lets businesses scale to meet changing business needs. By 2021, 90% of all enterprises will use cloud services to innovative and improve agility.
Top 3 Cloud Services
The three main types of cloud services are:
- Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): Software is licensed on a subscription basis and located on external servers, which users access via the internet.
- Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): A complete cloud-based development and deployment environment often used for supporting, developing, running, testing, managing, and updating applications.
- Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): An instant computing solution managed via the internet that offers physical servers and a data warehouse infrastructure.
These services enable companies of all sizes to access and benefit from powerful data processing, storage, networking, and more to better meet changing priorities. And they do this without the expense and complexity of buying and managing multiple licenses or building their own infrastructure.
What to Expect in 2021 and Beyond
The cloud isn’t optional—the cloud is business. As IT is being reshaped to take advantage of enhanced levels of speed, massive and low-cost storage, and hyperscalability, more companies are migrating to the cloud.
Organizations are expected to continue moving to the cloud and investing in cloud services. According to the 2020 IDG Cloud Computing Study:
- 32% of IT budgets will be dedicated to the cloud by 2021
- 46% of organizations’ cloud-based applications were purpose-built for the cloud; 54% moved from on-premises
- 92% of companies’ IT environment is at least somewhat in the cloud
IDC also says cloud-first applications may become more prevalent over time.
COVID-19 Drove Use of Cloud Services
Organizations that switched to telework due to COVID-19 accelerated the use of cloud services and cloud computing. Companies across sectors and across the globe had employees work from home, which required more cloud services and computing power.
“Owing to the lack of on-site IT personnel amidst the lockdown, enterprises are leveraging cloud capabilities to check, maintain, and monitor their server and storage installations in data centers,” according to a report by MarketsandMarkets. “Businesses are using the cloud effectively to create resilient and disaster-averse systems anywhere across the globe to cater to a remote workforce and protect data and business application integrity.”
While the pandemic accelerated the move to cloud services for some organizations, companies realize the value of the cloud. “In general, the move that we’ve made as an industry toward more cloud-based services with an emphasis on scalability, reliability, distribution across zones and regions—that value proposition is really shining,” Gartner’s Craig Lowery, vice president analyst, is quoted as saying.
Cloud Services for Data Analytics at Scale
Teradata offers many data cloud services in a cash-friendly subscription model. Its cloud data analytics platform Teradata Vantage™ is available on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
Teradata separates cloud computing from cloud storage to maximize flexibility and business value. Many Teradata customers, including Medibank, are taking a cloud-first strategy to data analytics by using Vantage as-a-service or industry-leading cloud analytics as-a-service. In fact, Brinker International’s analytic journey went from a competitor back to Teradata with Vantage on AWS.
As companies continue to face new challenges and look for new answers, cloud services along with a cloud data analytics platform can help drive the future of their business.