Cloud computing continues to be a driving force for the newest initiatives in technology. For companies still straddling the line between legacy applications and cloud solutions, it's important to develop a sound strategy for your cloud computing implementation. This will help you make key choices, such as which legacy applications will remain and how to integrate older systems with new cloud computing solutions.

For many companies, a hybrid approach makes the most sense. This allows you to take advantage of the lower cost and real time advantages in using the cloud for certain aspects of your business, while still maintaining older protocols that currently work with your business model. This also allows you to replace outmoded technology as it becomes necessary, rather than in one fell swoop that can mean costly investments in the technology itself and an adjustment period while staff members are trained in new systems.
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Trends in Cloud Computing

These are the most recent trends in adding cloud computing to your IT strategy.

• Hybrid Cloud
  
  • Hybrid cloud is basically what the name indicates, it's when a company keeps some of their legacy applications and transitions to cloud for other aspects of their IT. For older companies who already have set protocols, it's far easier and more effective to move to cloud computing for certain aspects of their IT strategy. Moving everything at once would be too costly and time-consuming. The best strategy here is to assess all of your processes to see where cloud computing can most improve your productivity. Backup and data recovery have been and remain the most popular hybrid cloud computing strategy.

• Severless
  
  • With a serverless strategy, companies are paying only for the resources that they use, rather than paying a set price for dedicated servers or server space. This offers obvious benefits economically and is the fastest growing public cloud service.

• Managed Containers
  
  • Managed containers are billed as the better way to develop and deploy applications at Google. Containers allow you to have a consistent and isolated environment for your applications. Because it's on the cloud, you can access your containers from anywhere. According to Search IT Operations, more than 50% of companies will be using managed containers by next year.

• DevOps
  
  • There was an increase in DevOps use among companies in 2018, up to 17% from 10% the year before. With a large focus on AI and the possibilities of automating to increase productivity and profit margins, DevOps are projected to grow substantially in the coming years.
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Cloud Spending by Industries

Almost every company uses some form of cloud computing. Due to the ability to share information in real time and increased security measures for cloud environments, moving to cloud infrastructure has become more and more advantageous across many industries. For older companies, it's not feasible to replace all of the in-house servers at one time, though many are looking to move these applications to cloud computing when it's time to replace old hardware.

To get an idea of the types of investments made to upgrade to cloud computing, the five largest industries spent over $37 billion in 2018 alone. Here's a brief run down of cloud spending by industry:

• Financial
  
  • Current predictions indicate that the cloud market in the finance industry will grow to over $29 billion by 2021. The financial sector was one of the first industries to jump into the cloud computing movement. They cite the increased security and ability to provide a more agile experience for their customers.

• Retail
  
  • Retailers and wholesalers spent an excess of $6 billion in 2018. Cloud computing gives retailers the advantage in mobile first technology and helps with everything from creating products to managing inventory. At the heart of the cloud computing push is the user experience, which is heightened with cloud's real time information and instantaneous gratification.

• Healthcare
  
  • Healthcare spent over $12 billion on cloud computing in 2018. For the healthcare industry as a whole, the ability to allow patients better access to information as well as streamlining their payments and check-ins, have been excellent additions for a customer centric approach. Cloud computing has also allowed for more security and flexibility for healthcare IT.

• Manufacturing.
  
  • The manufacturing industry spent $3.6 billion on cloud computing in 2018. This addition to their legacy applications allowed manufacturers a 26% growth, with improved speed and accuracy in their production process.
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Cloud strategy is an important component in successfully implementing new cloud based applications. The key for many companies is in truly assessing the current process and pinpointing the most important areas to improve first.
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