There is no denying that cloud computing has been growing at a surprising rate and is expected to continue developing. Along with all this growth comes the question of whether traditional forms of IT will still survive amongst the dramatic changes in technology. Unfortunately for enterprise hardware and software vendors, it seems as though cloud computing is going to replace other kinds of IT spending completely. Global technology experts have reached this conclusion based on current trends and predictions for rapid cloud expansion in the next few years. The increase in spending on the cloud has come at the expense of other forms of IT which will continue to be challenged as cloud computing begins to take over the world of business technology.
Cloud Computing Take Over
There have been plenty of recent changes that signify the shift toward cloud computing but much of its growth is expected to take place by 2016. Revenue for IaaS provider for example is expected to increase at a rate of 57 percent, reaching $10.2 billion in two years. This kind of rapid growth is likely to affect hardware and software sales drastically. For every dollar spent on using a cloud infrastructure, several dollars are taken out of other IT markets. Even the largest companies offering enterprise technology such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard and CA are likely to see their revenues decline significantly in the next two years. These companies are aware of the cloud computing take over and are already moving more of their focus on the cloud. This, however, comes at the cost of their more traditional hardware and software businesses.
Adapt or Lose
Even though bigger companies can easily start to compensate for their losses by offering cloud computing services, smaller scale businesses that focus more of their energy on traditional IT are going to have to adapt to changes as well. Companies that exclusively provide enterprise hardware and software are going to struggle as their customers begin to rely more on cloud architectures. In order to stay relevant these kinds of business will have to shift their skills and offerings in time to catch up with widespread cloud adoption. Without providing some type of cloud service, businesses will start to lose their customers and unfortunately a lot of their profit as well.
Shift Towards Efficiency
There have been many instances of technological shifts in the past but the changes that are taking place now with cloud computing are probably the biggest. It has become more apparent in recent years how much the cloud is in a position to completely replace traditional IT services. Businesses are continually shifting away from having their own on-site data centers in favor of the more cost-effective and efficient offsite option available through cloud computing. With the many benefits associated with the cloud, traditional IT seems to be becoming a thing of the past among businesses. As enterprise hardware and software is continually replaced by the cloud, providers will need to put their focus on this growing trend to stay competitive and reach more customers.
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Leo Hart is an expert at cloud computing and specializes in virtual servers for Custom Cloud.