By Dave Chapman, Head of Customer Transformations at Cloudreach

The Cloud Will Continue to Evolve Alongside New and Existing Enterprise Needs

The cloud may no longer be an exciting new enterprise technology, but that doesn't mean it's stopped innovating. Just this year, we've seen the tool maintain its relevance in regards to a number of top of mind workplace subjects, including the next era of digital transformation and the importance of security. Even more so, it continues to provide fresh opportunities for businesses looking to organically grow into global enterprises. In 2020, don't expect cloud to go anywhere - but assume it will be everywhere. 

The Cost of Losing Out on Digital Transformation

Business change is accelerating with no sign of slowing down any time soon. At the same time, many IT departments have struggled to keep up because of outdated tech and budget concerns. Significant investments are needed to ensure IT is able to adapt to support business changes and keep up with new digital customer experience demands. Unfortunately, cost will continue to be a concern for many IT departments in 2020. Moving forward, expect an ongoing struggle for IT teams in balancing new business and customer demands and what they're able to execute within their budget. 

The Next Era of Enterprise Cloud Adoption

As with any new cutting-edge technology, adoption comes in stages - and this was no different for the cloud. Early adoption of the tool was mostly driven by IT departments, whose goals were squarely for using the tech to increase agility. Soon afterwards came the incremental business interest, piqued by the opportunity to experiment with the tech to gain an understanding of cloud as a competitive differentiator. So what's next? The new era of enterprise cloud adoption will be among "cloud native businesses"; organizations built directly with the cloud's scalability and efficiency in mind. We've already seen how valuable it can be to have this agility built into a company's DNA - look no further than the behemoth that is Netflix - so in 2020, expect to see more organizations migrating workloads to the cloud in an effort to meet the growing demands of today's digital businesses.

CISOs will learn the lessons of Capital One breach - but will they be the right ones?

The Capital One breach seems to have scared a lot of enterprises away from the cloud -- but it shouldn't have. It had little to do with the security of the cloud itself, and more to do with the company's implementation and management of the tool. The takeaway? In 2020, companies must conduct a thorough examination of their cloud implementation and security policies to ensure they are adequately protected in the age of security breaches. On the other hand, companies should take note of Capital One's quick reaction strategy, which successfully demonstrated the importance of having response procedures prepared in the event of a breach. Because of these preparations, Capital One moved quickly, both in their initial response to the breach and in notifying customers. As our networks become more connected than ever in 2020, ensure your company is safely protecting that data through security measures. And yet, even companies with the best security practices should be prepared for the worst, so also implement a solid response strategy that can be leveraged at a moment's notice. 

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