Cloud computing may feel like an invention of the 21st century, but the idea was born in the 1950s and realized on a meaningful scale in the late 1960s. Nevertheless, it was the PC revolution in the 1980s and the advent of the internet the following decade that helped make cloud computing one of the most transformative technologies, both for consumers and corporations. “The past two decades have seen “the cloud” progress from a perplexing term to a familiar concept, with technological advances making it a powerful enabler of business innovation,” says Trevor Silver, founder and CEO of leading analytics, data engineering, and cloud computing solutions provider Exusia. “Thanks to this technology, modern-day consumers have video-on-demand services and social media platforms, while enterprise teams enjoy the benefits of video conferencing, collaboration tools, and online productivity suites. Given that the digital transformation continues unabated across all industry sectors, cloud computing will become even more important, especially as its potential increases manifold in combination with other innovative technologies, most notably the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI).”
According to a new forecast, the global cloud computing market will grow at a compound annual rate of 17.5% between 2020 and 2025, its value rising from $371.4 billion to $832.1 billion over this period. “The existing competition and global economic situations have accelerated the adoption of cost-effective measures to restructure business models. The increasing shift of enterprises toward the adoption of digital transformation and accelerating customer experience are a few more factors leading to the adoption of cloud computing services, which are ultimately reducing enterprise costs. Moreover, the cloud offers the benefit of the pay-as-you-go model, which enables enterprises to pay as per their usage of cloud services, leading to reduced costs,” the report from research group MarketsandMarkets notes.
Even though the current pandemic is likely to affect corporate spending plans to some degree, it is also expected to accelerate adoption after the public health crisis is resolved, Trevor Silver comments. The Flexera 2020 State of the Cloud Report reveals that companies anticipate the pandemic-related disruptions to trigger a shift in demand. More than 50% of the survey participants stated that their cloud usage would exceed initial expectations, partly due to the surge in online activity and the resulting need for additional capacity. Additionally, some companies expect to increase their cloud usage after the pandemic in order to avoid systemic shocks and thus ensure business continuity. Trevor Silver adds, “Leaving aside this black swan event, investment in cloud capabilities has been gathering speed in the past few years as enterprises seek to increase their flexibility, optimize expenditure, scale at cost, and improve the customer experience. The figures speak for themselves: a McAfee study found that 87% of companies using cloud services experience business acceleration as a result of it.”
Trevor Silver is the founder and CEO of Exusia – a Miami-based company that provides agile technology solutions and operational guidance to customers around the world. Since its launch in 2012, it has become a trusted supplier to enterprises in the healthcare, financial services, telecommunications, hospitality, entertainment, energy, and consumer products industries. Besides his professional success in the analytics and data engineering field, Trevor Silver has also gained a reputation as an astute investor and entrepreneur.