As we write this, the cloud is everywhere. It stretched, and it looms far into the horizon. Almost every company we know of – small or big – has tried to extend itself into the cloud. Whether they successfully use the cloud and transform the way they compute is not what we are getting at, though.
The point we are trying to make is that cloud computing is an accessible, cost-effective technology that businesses find great value in. The question is: will it remain like that forever? Is there another disruption around the corner? What will be the future of IT like? Here’s our take on it:
There won’t be anything Physical about IT, at least it’d be bare
In 10 predictions that John Brandon made on CIO.com, he predicts the role of CIO and how it’s going to be like in 2020. One of the predictions he makes about the future of IT is that it’ll barely be physical. He foresees a dramatic shift to the cloud and it’ll be unclear as to who’s in charge, where the data centers are, and where the actual computing is done. In a nutshell, the Network is all over the place (or on the cloud).
While we agree with John, we believe that it won’t be “dramatic”. It’ll at least be perceptibly different. Companies won’t bother with datacenters unless they can justify the cost. Remote staff, virtual machines, cloud-based storage, and some of the other technologies will be mainstream.
Employees on Cloud 9
We’ll see a dramatic shift in the way companies tap into human resources. With ever increasing costs to hire and keep employees, telecommuting will be preferred option. Freelancers and outsourced teams are motivated, well-trained, committed, and have an entrepreneurial approach to work unlike full-time employees who behave, act, and work like, well, full-time employees.
The cloud won’t just be about machines, servers, and files stored; it’ll also be about the human cloud. It’ll also encompass human assets apart from intellectual property, files and documents, and data.
BYOD will reign, but conditions will apply
In the near future, BYOD will reign. It’ll be the way work gets done. Remote employees and outsourced staff will anyway have BYOD working for them. This prediction, however, extends to full-time, in-house staff too. While the IT department secures, monitors, polices, and aids in BYOD use, the days of corporate-managed, corporate-issued mobile devices and computing devices seem to be on the way out.
IT will impact strategy
Technology helps give businesses a certain, definitive edge. It does now, and it’ll do so in the future. However, businesses are just that and just because there’s technology it doesn’t mean that businesses change by themselves. What’ll happen, however, is that IT will impact the way business is done. Technology will impact strategy. It’ll facilitate business processes.
What do you think will happen to the cloud in the future? Where do you think the future of Cloud Computing lies?