What does 2024 hold for the cloud?
A ‘tidal wave’ of gen AI based solutions going into production.
The ‘catapulting’ of observability from IT priority to business requirement.
Uncertainty around the effective leveraging of gen AI.
The first viable quantum solutions to be offered as cloud platforms.
A shift in the cybersecurity landscape as attackers target businesses moving into the cloud era.
Five cloud specialists outline what could be to come.
Markus Nispel, Chief Technology Officer – EMEA, Extreme Networks
The ability to provide GenAI LLMs as a service by the big cloud providers allows vendors and all organisations to experiment and launch new GenAI-based services quickly. 2024 will see a tidal wave of GenAI-based solutions going into production at scale and being adopted, so the revenue from this will increase substantially. At the same time, the requirements around data sovereignty, privacy, cost, and latency will continue to drive demand for cloud edge deployments, so this will be another growth vector for the industry and those vendors who have built solutions with that cloud continuum in mind.
Bernd Greifeneder, CTO, Dynatrace
In 2024, the combined pressure of adopting more environmentally sustainable business practices and tackling rising cloud costs will catapult observability from an IT priority to a business requirement.
Organisations’ increased use of AI will be a key driver of this trend as it boosts cloud resource consumption, resulting in expanded carbon footprints. However, AI-powered observability data analytics can help organisations tackle these challenges and mature their FinOps and sustainability practices by surfacing actionable insights and powering intelligent automation to address hotspots of inefficiency in cloud environments. Increased use of AI-powered observability will enable organisations to automatically orchestrate their systems for optimal resource utilization, reducing emissions and the cost of running their cloud environments. As a result, we will see growing interest in use cases of observability beyond the IT department as the wider business begins to take note.
Andrew Hollister, CISO and Vice President R&D Labs, LogRhythm
The cybersecurity landscape will confront a similar challenge with generative AI as it did previously with cloud computing. Just as there was initially a lack of understanding regarding the shared responsibility model associated with cloud computing, we find ourselves in a situation where gen AI adoption lacks clarity. Many are uncertain about how to effectively leverage gen AI, where its true value lies, and when and where it should not be employed. This predicament is likely to result in a significant risk of confidential information breaches through gen AI platforms.
Lynn Collier, Global Solutions Manager, Hitachi Vantara
There are various trends that are shaping the cloud computing industry. Many of these are extensions or evolutions of significant changes we’ve already seen in the last year.
Most companies expect their data needs to double by 2025, and with AI innovation at the forefront of many companies’ agendas, an enhanced data infrastructure capabilities and strengthened cyber defences are expected to be top of mind for industry executives in 2024.
However, most businesses don’t expect a big shift in how they split their data between on/off premises and public cloud servers.
Another key trend we’re likely to see is Quantum Computing growing in prominence. Markets and Markets expect that the Quantum Computing market will reach $667 million by 2027. Whilst the technology is in many ways still emerging, the conversations surrounding the topic are getting louder. 2023 has been a year of exploratory projects and prototypes, and 2024 might see the first viable quantum solutions offered via cloud platforms.
An important thing to note however is that, according to Gartner, by 2025 lack of talent or human error will be responsible for over half of significant cyber incidents.
In 2023, we witnessed a rise in high-profile cyber-attacks targeting cloud infrastructures specifically. This has prompted a more vigorous focus on cloud-native security features, including Zero Trust architectures and AI-Driven threat detection systems—a trend that will likely dominate in 2024.
As the cloud computing industry continues to mature, these trends won’t just occur in silos, but will work together in a complexity of ways.
For example, the growth in Edge Computing could Drive new requirements for cloud security, while the advancements in AI will require robust data infrastructures. 2024 will be pivotal, setting the stage for much more efficient, integrated, and secure cloud ecosystems.
Given the utility of AI capabilities, businesses must align their cloud strategies with a data infrastructure that is both agile and secure – but also capable of supporting the transformative technologies that are ever-present.
Chris Doman, CTO and Co-Founder, Cado Security
Businesses will continue mass migrating to cloud platforms, hence, cybercriminals will follow suit.
2024 will see an increase in sophisticated cyberattacks targeting cloud infrastructure.
Data will continue to be recognised as an invaluable asset of the utmost importance; in tandem, attackers will shift tactics to adapt as businesses move towards a cloud-first approach, especially when migrating their data to cloud platforms.
Their primary motivation is the amount of sensitive data they can obtain from successful breaches – a critical asset for businesses, making it a primary target for cybercriminals.
Thus, 2024 will witness a heightened emphasis on cloud security. The cybersecurity landscape will evolve in response to attackers shifting tactics as businesses move into the cloud era.
