Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2018.  Read them in this 10th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

Contributed by Anant Adya, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Engagements for Cloud, Infrastructure and Security Services (CIS) for Americas and APAC at Infosys

Four Areas to Watch in Enterprise Cloud in 2018

The cloud has come a long way in its ability to be a change agent in an enterprise's digital transformation journey.

Cloud, together with other technology movements such as internet of things, AI, big data and blockchain, is making it easier for business and IT to become more insightful, agile and responsive to customers. In fact, in today's environment, a business can quickly and easily "turn on" a new cloud-based service independently and with little assistance from IT. And yet, this very jumping on the cloud bandwagon with point services could, at times, prove counterproductive; especially if it leads to the establishment of IT silos and "shadow IT" situations that could increase security and compliance-related risks for organizations.

But cloud adoption steamrolls ahead - one study projected that soon as much as 80 percent of all IT budgets will be committed to cloud solutions.

What can we expect in enterprise cloud in 2018? Take a look the following four predictions:

Cloud adoption booms alongside other big tech

There will be wider adoption of cloud, with trendsetters being the retail, manufacturing, logistics and travel/transportation industries. AI, big data, machine learning, and the IoT will all intersect with the cloud journey. All of these technologies help build knowledge and intimacy with customers through data, enabling the cloud strategy must be about business growth and agility.

Still, rapid adoption means enterprises can lack a unified view into their entire IT landscape as it extends to the cloud, and are not armed with all the capabilities needed to paint a cohesive picture. Organizations need to bring together all the skills, software and experience needed to maximize the kind of returns they should see from their cloud investments.

Licensing, Google Cloud will bring more cloud spending

Microsoft Azure and Oracle cloud will be the leading platforms in 2018 due to the strength of their relationships with enterprises. Each will drive more enterprise cloud migrations and adoption, while AWS will still be dominant for IaaS and burst requirements. The new entrant that will make a splash in 2018 will be the Google Cloud Platform. Cloud adoption will also take a big leap with SAP HANA gaining momentum, Oracle improving its licensing, and more companies seeing revenue growth thanks to better customer insights from their cloud environments.

The agility that the cloud ushers in demands that enterprise IT be well prepared with new tools, processes and management techniques. Setting up a Managed Cloud Platform will ensure that enterprises have access on-demand services through a ‘marketplace' controlled with user profile-based access. 

More organizations will need a defined "cloud strategy"

Most companies have developed a cloud strategy and have taken some steps toward executing against goals. However, the cloud strategy in most cases is aligned to cost savings on infrastructure spending or handling tactical issues like end-of-life and security issues. 2018 needs to be the year of a defined cloud strategy. From planning to execution, companies should spend time aligning their cloud strategy to business growth and agility. Enterprises should have a clear understanding of what their current IT landscape looks like as well as a clear vision for the future state. In addition, consumption patterns and user behavior must be tightly monitored and controlled through user, application, and performance-centric polices. 

Companies must get in position to embrace cloud

It's problematic to adopt cloud or develop strategy when companies aren't positioned for digital- and cloud-first approaches. Most of the world's leading companies have grown organically as well through mergers and acquisitions. This has resulted in a huge infrastructure and application landscape with heterogeneous systems, sub-optimal networks, and end-of-life systems. That's why it's important for companies to first create a foundation for cloud by incorporating together standardization, virtualization, optimized networks, and everything software-defined. This foundation will force them to optimize the application landscape and will drive a lot of consolidation in apps. Once this foundation is established, companies can focus on executing a cloud strategy that will enable business growth and agility.

Looking at the cloud simply as a solution for individual problems, without taking into account the larger context, will not unlock its true potential. This is the single most important message that early adopters of the cloud have to share. To truly take advantage of all cloud offers to the enterprise, businesses should look at the whole picture to leverage the whole potential.

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About the Author

Anant Adya is Senior Vice President and Head of Sales and Engagements for Cloud, Infrastructure and Security Services (CIS) for Americas and APAC at Infosys.