Cloud Trends: A Lookback at 2021 and Impact on 2022

Cloud Trends: 2021 Insights and 2022 Projections

By Dominik Birgelen, CEO of oneclick AG

Cloud computing has been immensely popular since the emergence of COVID-19 and has been on a rapid upward trajectory throughout 2021. Although the evolution of cloud technology was traditionally appreciated for its cost saving abilities, it is now invested in for its facilitation for future innovation. According to predictions from Gartner, global spending on cloud services is expected to reach over $482 billion in 2022, up from $313 billion in 2020.

Cloud computing, an on-demand delivery of IT resources using an internet connection, has continued to take the world by the storm in 2021 enabling businesses to leverage several benefits such as saving costs, eliminating complex tasks, and increasing productivity during a time of disruption. The technology has also offered organisations wider operational flexibility through reducing the requirement of on-site maintenance and support.

There’s no doubt that some particular cloud offerings such as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), desktop-as-a-service (DaaS), and offerings that strengthen cybersecurity have enabled businesses to simplify their operations. It is these features that will prevail and will continue to drive the overall growth of cloud computing in the coming years.

Stand out cloud offerings in 2021

Where the pandemic already gave life to the work-from-home environment in 2020, 2021 saw new variants expedite, meaning remote working became the ‘new normal’ and a part of many employee’s demand. As a result, businesses relied on the growing cloud service of DaaS to facilitate a remote work force. The service solution provides businesses with greater flexibility, efficiency and cost-effectiveness, and is expected to grow over 150% between 2020-2023.

VDI is another gift of cloud that was considered an imperative offering to adopt due to its advanced capabilities. As virtual became integrated in the daily lives of employees, many businesses rolled out VDIs to allow their workforces to run a desktop operating system within a virtual workplace. It comes as no surprise owing to the growth rate of the VDI market that is expected to grow at 15.8% during the between 2021-2027.

What’s more, with the emergence of virtual environments, several businesses became victims of cybercriminals. With credential thefts rising, the cybersecurity of a business has become a prime concern. However, the additional layers of security, thanks to certain cloud-based solutions, have proven to be a great support for businesses in this new virtual space. Cloud-based technologies allow institutions to implement critical cybersecurity measures that prove extremely difficult to penetrate including shielded logins, disconnecting the end user environment and Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA).

How these trends will shape 2022

Global revenue from cloud that was $408 billion in 2021 is expected to reach $474 billion in 2022. The ongoing pandemic and an emergence of new COVID-19 variants such as Omicron has provided 2022 with new challenges amidst post-pandemic recovery. In other words, full-time remote-working has once again become the most sought after option for numerous businesses and employees alike.

The leading cloud offerings, including VDI and DaaS that drove the facilitation of remote working in 2021, are expected to lead 2022 further ahead. Following several forecasts about the growth of these cloud offerings, new restrictions have made it clear that remote working is going to stay longer than people imagined. This rise in virtualisation and increasing adoption of  cloud offerings are fueling the growth of cloud computing.

There is no denying that cloud spending in 2022 will continue to increase. Cloud’s offerings, apart from facilitating growing virtualisation, play a key role in creating an additional security layer within organisations. With increasing threats and vulnerabilities such as more third-party vendor involvement, employee-error, negligence and phishing attacks, cloud-based solutions have helped many industries to stay secure and remain protected from these types of breaches. With the knowledge that remote working culture is here to stay, it will be vital for businesses to keep cyber security as a priority in this new year.

In summary, cloud investment serves as a modern approach for companies to lower IT operational costs, deploy services faster and be responsive to the growing demands of the business. Organisations of all sizes are expected to leverage cloud in 2022 more than ever before, depending upon the different requirements of the companies every segment of the cloud (public, private and hybrid) seem to occupy more space in the market.

Author bio:

Dominik Birgelen is the CEO and Co-Founder of leading virtual workspace provider, oneclick AG. Dominik is a serial entrepreneur. He currently wears several hats within oneclick such as overseeing sales, marketing and business development. Despite his busy routine, he has a good work life balance and promotes this to his team.