An Economist Intelligence Unit global survey of 360 technologists and senior executives predicts that cloud’s importance in multiple industries will increase almost 400% in the next five years. This high rate of growth is expected to be found in all of the industries, and in both developed and developing countries.
While each industry has its own drivers of cloud adoption, the following were recurring patterns seen by the respondents:
- Cost reduction will be a major outcome of cloud deployment—such as lowering the costs of goods sold in retailing, or reducing design and prototyping costs in manufacturing.
- Cloud is expected to contribute to the customisation of products and services for customers — examples include the personal configuration of coursework in education, or enabling more personalised healthcare.
- Cloud deployment is projected to increase operational control for managers — an example would be more transparency into supply chains and inventory.
- Cloud is expected to be a factor in extending services to remote and low income populations, particularly in education and healthcare.
- Cloud is expected to face challenges in its growth and deployment, the most significant challenge is seen in data security, a concern common to many emerging technologies.
- Cloud challenges includes lack of adequate infrastructure to support cloud, particularly in developing economies, and difficulties in finding qualified personnel to build and manage cloud networks.
