Cloud Technology Trends and Predictions for 2024

AI, Generative AI and ML are becoming increasingly integrated into
technological infrastructure, enabling businesses to automate tasks, make data-driven decisions, and personalize customer experiences. Applied AI powered systems to reduce errors, social ethics, and human bias will need to be engineered, tested, and operationalized.

According to a Gartner survey, 87% of organizations expect to adopt AI by 2025.

Partnering with hyperscalers, Eviden looks to provide advisory, build- and managed services to solve global organizations’ most complex business problems using AI/ML models.

A closely related theme that is gaining importance is Responsible and Ethical AI, which refers to the practice of developing, deploying, and using AI systems in a manner that aligns with ethical principles, legal standards, and societal values. It emphasizes accountability, transparency, fairness, and respect for human rights in AI applications.

Business Value:

• Enhanced creativity, content generation, automation and development of new applications and services across various industries.
• Improved decision-making capabilities based on data-driven insights
• Personalized customer experiences and targeted marketing strategies

At Eviden, we predict that in 2024, the expected growth in AI adoption amongst customers will increase by ~50% coupled with Gen AI in product development at ~65%. Further, we estimate that the impact of AI adoption on cloud customers in decision making, automation and efficiency would reach up to ~85%.

Cloud security is paramount as businesses move more sensitive data to the cloud. Cloud providers are investing heavily in security solutions to protect customer data. Technology concepts such as zero trust-as-a-service, which are cloud based, plug, and play building blocks would become more prominent.

GSIs would develop joint offerings with vendors to offer e2e security
managed services such as MS Security Co-pilot.

With the emergence of AI and Gen AI, LLM trained on private security
operational data, combine with self-hosted security intelligence core would be a key differentiator. AI enhanced SAST toolset for code scanning and dependency validation would bring in the efficiency and quality in code development. Trust framework for pre-tested/approved upstream vendors and tools would be an integral part of security frameworks.

A Gartner report predicts that cloud security spending will reach $170.4 billion by 2026.

Business Value:

• Protection of sensitive data and intellectual property
• Compliance with data privacy regulations and industry standards
• Enhanced brand reputation and customer trust

At Eviden, we predict that in 2024, the expected growth in the cloud
security space is ~40% with increased demand for zero trust and AI based cybersecurity services, at 50%, that helps customers reduce risk of data breaches and cyberattacks, enhance access control and data protection, improve software security and reduced vulnerabilities. Security would be at the epicentre of every cloud design with more emphasis on data privacy and controls.

Cloud cost management and sustainability is becoming a critical focus for organizations as cloud spending increases along with global drive to reduce carbon footprint. Cloud providers are offering tools and services to help customers manage and optimize cloud costs, and in parallel monitoring and reducing CO2 figures.

Hybrid cloud with edge data processing helps reduce data transfers, thus driving up sustainability. Some of the core concepts involved here are renewable energy-based cloud resource management, responsible Life Cycle Management, converged networking and the adoption of AI, ML and IoT offerings to enhance industry efficiency.

A cloud cost management market report by MarketsandMarkets forecasts a market size of $25.5 billion by 2027. GreenOps is an emerging theme that helps design, deploy, and manage cloud services with sustainability at the centre.

Business Value:

• Reduced cloud expenses and optimized resource utilization
• Improved financial transparency and control over cloud spending
• Increased alignment of cloud costs with business value

At Eviden, we predict that in 2024, the focus on cloud cost management, sustainability and GreenOps is expected to increase by 35%. This is further expected to have an impact on customers around improved cost efficiency and reduced cloud spending, reduced environmental impact, optimized cloud resource utilization and energy efficiency, to the extent of ~85%.

Cloud governance and compliance ensures that cloud resources are used in compliance with regulations and policies. Cloud compliance is becoming increasingly important as organizations face stricter data privacy regulations. With new regulations being drafted for AI, Gen AI, and modern computing technologies, it is imperative that organizations plan and implement a solid GRC system.

The global cloud governance and compliance market is expected to reach $16.7 billion by 2025, according to Grand View Research.

Business Value:

• Reduced risk of regulatory fines and legal repercussions
• Enhanced data privacy and protection of sensitive information
• Increased organizational reputation and trustworthiness

At Eviden, we predict that in 2024, the focus on cloud governance and compliance is expected to increase by ~40% with greater emphasis on building a solid GRC system. This is expected to reduce risks of cloud-related incidents, decrease risks of regulatory fines and improve compliance posture for our customers.

Applications are designed to be deployed and managed in the cloud,
enabling agility and scalability. Cloud-native development is becoming the standard for building modern applications. GSIs would focus on developing Cloud-native integration platforms to combine systems, accelerate API-led development and support event driven paradigms.

Further, advanced mesh architecture such as the Mesh App and Service Architecture (MASA) model apps of interconnected mesh of independent autonomous applications and services, enable the digital business technology platform within the organizations. This is based on a multidimensional model where an application is an interconnected mesh of autonomous apps and services.

A 2023 report by VMware found that 96% of organizations are adopting cloud-native applications.

Business Value:

• Rapid development and deployment of applications
• Increased application scalability and resilience
• Reduced infrastructure costs and improved resource utilization

At Eviden, we expect a ~65% growth in cloud native – serverless container, microservices and DevOps, driving improved agility, scalability, resilience, and time to market for our customers.

Industry Cloud platforms are cloud computing solutions tailored to the specific needs and requirements of a particular industry or vertical. They provide a pre-configured and integrated environment that includes cloud infrastructure, industry-specific software, and services, enabling businesses to adopt cloud technologies and accelerate their digital transformation journey quickly and easily. Integrating hybrid cloud, edge, and connectivity along with an industry cloud reference architecture can become a key differentiator. Further, cross-industry tracking platforms enabled by
Edge/IoT devices help provide accurate and timely insights, which could be a deal breaker when dealing with substantial amounts of data and distributed regional systems.

GSIs would need to develop Industry cloud solutions based on demand driven research, generating more focused customer value. Industry Cloud solutions powered by tuned AI/ML platforms such as HLS, Marketing, HR, B2B and Pricing would be in demand rather than generic ones.

The global industry cloud market is expected to grow from $50.8 billion in 2022 to $265.6 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 35.4%.

Business Value:

• Reduced time to market and cost
• Industry-specific expertise and best practices
• Accelerated innovation and collaboration

At Eviden, we predict that in 2024, the expected growth of industry cloud platforms would be ~35% with an increase in spend up to ~25%. This is expected to drive improved agility, innovation, and time to market, as well as reduced costs and risks for our customers.