Today cloud computing and RPA solutions are becoming the coupling agent between most outsourcing strategies.
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Covid-19 changed the past skepticism of many IT directors to the cloud, as they were faced with solving urgent problems related to the access of home employees to corporate applications and other IT needs during the lockdown. And now, more and more CIOs are looking at advanced cloud-based capabilities like data analytics and artificial intelligence to scale infrastructure to handle more complex workloads, as well as a competitive advantage to better track performance indicators and other business metrics and drive smarter decision making.
According to Gartner Inc, annual spending worldwide on cloud services is expected to increase by 23% in 2021 and will amount to approximately $ 332 billion by the end of 2021, compared with $ 270 billion in 2020. Gartner also predicts that cloud software will remain the largest cloud segment with annual expenses of $ 122.6 billion, but the infrastructure-as-a-service (Iaas) and desktop-as-a-service (Daas) segments will show the greatest growth.
Global spending on edge computing will grow to $240.6 billion by 2024 at a compound annual growth rate of more than 15%, according to the forecast of the technology research company International Data Corp. Edge computing refers to a data processing technology installed directly on a data source to improve the performance and functionality of applications and the hardware on which it is installed. Edge computing often uses artificial intelligence and instantly makes changes to the data source to lower costs and improve efficiency.
Large companies in different areas of the economy, from railway transport manufacturers to digital and e-commerce agencies and developers of web and mobile apps, plan to double their spending on cloud technologies and edge computing in the coming years.
Despite the macroeconomic headwinds, the offers supporting or providing public cloud services are experiencing huge growth. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) remains the largest segment of the market and is projected to reach $ 122.6 billion in 2021, as the demand for composite applications requires a different type of SaaS experience. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and Desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) will show the greatest growth in 2021 – 38.5% and 67.7%, respectively, as CIOs face constant pressure to scale infrastructure that supports the transfer of complex workloads to the cloud, and the requirements of a hybrid workforce.
Sid Nag, Vice President in the Technology and Service Provider group at Gartner, noted that the usage and adoption of cloud technologies in the coming years will look different. “It will further evolve from serving pedestrian use cases such as infrastructure and application migration to those that combine cloud with technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, 5G, and more. In other words, the cloud will serve as a bridge between many other technologies that CIOs want to use more often, allowing them to leap into the next century as they tackle more complex and new use cases”.
Сloud is an innovative tool, but as disruptor technologies (blockchain, IoT, edge) and next-horizon (quantum) computing technologies appear, the cloud is expanding to process and coordinate information in all these other computing options.
Cloud technologies can help improve the business core, powerful computing infrastructure, data management strategies and provide opportunities for using modern, breakthrough technologies of tomorrow and future next horizon technologies.
With the fourth industrial revolution transforming most industries with the help of technologies, cloud computing, 5G networks, the Internet of Things, and RPA, the way companies outsource their business processes will change.
Most companies are moving outsourcing practices to the cloud, as cloud storage provides seamless collaboration and accelerates digital transformation, and the inclusion of cloud capabilities in outsourcing will make business processes more transparent.
By offering a fast wireless network, 5G takes outsourcing to a new level in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. These technologies speed up everything in the outsourcing relationship: management, communication, collaboration, data transfer, and much more.
The Internet of Things allows service providers in the outsourcing community to offer accurate analytics for predictive maintenance, optimize network infrastructure, and even generate BI analytical data.
Automation of robotic processes forms a new digital outsourcing model, and software bots replace a significant part of IT work. Most of the repetitive tasks that do not require human intervention are performed by bots. These artificial intelligence-based bots are intelligent and not only make outsourcing more technologically advanced but also help save time, costs, and human effort.
Thus, cloud innovation programs have competing priorities. Organizations can better align business results with technical requirements and achieve economies of scale within these programs through scenario thinking.
This can be made a reality with the help of the cloud and artificial intelligence (AI). It is expected that cloud technologies will become the cornerstone of innovative strategies like this.
As organizations develop their innovative plans for the next 5-10 years, cloud technologies are not expected to become an afterthought. Rather, it could serve as a core for the entire innovative value proposition. The cloud is likely to become the context in which innovative programs are evaluated and decisions are made on all aspects of the organization, including the entire C-suite package. Indeed, the business innovation strategy is evolving into a cloud innovation strategy, combining business and technical considerations that reflect this changing reality.
