Outsourcing experts and research surveys have predicted that cloud computing will be a focal area in 2014. This year will be the year of cloud computing and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Businesses that have experienced their first cloud success have not stopped, but are rapidly accepting their second and third cloud. On the other hand, companies who have not taken the step towards cloud computing in 2013 are realizing their folly and are making moves towards adopting the cloud in 2014.
In the year of 2012, small and mid-size businesses across the world spent over $45bn on cloud services. This number is expected to exceed $95bn by the year of 2015. The cloud has been able to give small business access to computing applications, services and power that were earlier very expensive or complex to use. The cloud has in fact removed the limits of smaller businesses.
Even with the past success of the cloud, experts feel that companies will continue to have concerns about security. The cloud will also face resistance from traditional IT companies who prefer ownership and control over the cloud. Experts also feel that the public cloud will be more likely to extend its growth over the private cloud as companies will understand that the private cloud will bring in the same in-house challenges. This is particularly true of small and mid-size firms that continue to run old operating systems and work on unsupported versions and platforms.
