This post is part of G2's 2022 digital trends series. Read more about G2’s perspective on digital transformation trends in an introduction from Tom Pringle, VP, market research, and additional coverage on trends identified by G2’s analysts.

Cloud will bring the next wave of change across several industries 

The cloud has revolutionized the last two years in the technology space. A question that arises as we step into the new year is “what lies ahead for cloud computing?” G2 predicts three important trends that will be the central focus in the cloud computing space. 

Deciding on IT budgets has become a huge hassle that is going unnoticed. 2022 will see the rise of cloud monitoring and cloud cost management software tools to produce better budgets, improved forecasts, and save up on resources. G2 expects to see a surge in investments toward hybrid and multicloud environments so that customers can experience and use the best of both private and public cloud rather than being limited to either. Edge computing will also grow faster than ever. The deployment of IoT, the interest in driverless cars, and the promise of 5G technology will all depend on the edge.

More focus on cloud monitoring and cloud cost management

Ensuring companies can make their money’s worth

Cloud spending has rapidly increased, with the COVID-19 pandemic acting as the primary catalyst. The drawback to this expansion, however, was that companies were unable to optimize cloud resources. Many hidden costs and limitations, resource wastage, poor monitoring, and lack of technical expertise are causing companies to question cloud deployments over on-premises infrastructure. Companies struggle to forecast their cloud spend, which makes building a solid IT budget extremely difficult. 

To overcome this struggle, we are expecting a new trend of interest towards cloud management and cloud cost management tools. These tools help businesses keep track of their cloud spends, monitor and control cloud environments, and provide insights on managing costs.

Cloud management platforms are here to stay

Cloud management platforms observed growth of 559.27% YoY till July 2021. The demand for such platforms will only get bigger and better, and G2 expects this to continue well in 2022 and after. 

We expect cloud management and cloud cost management tools to become a key trend in 2022 primarily because companies will need to focus on managing their budgets more efficiently.

Hybrid and multicloud environments will be in demand  

What will drive the growth of hybrid and multicloud?

While public cloud allows customers to save considerable amounts in IT infrastructure costs and private cloud will enable customers to keep their data close on site, ensuring high data transfers and low latency, hybrid cloud is the best of both worlds. A variation of this is multicloud, where customers can opt for two public cloud offerings together.

We expect hybrid cloud deployments to pick up a much more robust pace in 2022, primarily because of the vast storage demands the software can meet.

Large files that need to be accessed frequently can be saved on the private cloud, and archived files can be saved to the public cloud. Customers can opt to keep critical files and metadata in their private cloud and outsource their non-critical data to public clouds to be accessed as and when required.

Customers will want the best of both worlds

Hybrid and multicloud environments will be the way forward instead of limiting users to either public or private. Based on customer needs and wants from their IT infrastructure and business goals, we can expect to see a robust deployment towards hybrid cloud and multicloud strategies.

Goodbye cloud, hello edge!    

Edge computing will grow, driven by a cloud computing backbone

What comes to your mind when you think of data centers? Huge, mammoth structures located far, far away, collecting and processing our data for various purposes. What if I told you that the next data center might be right next to your house, and you wouldn't even know it?

Although data centers were created for data centralization, it brought a host of issues, such as latency and drops in performance efficiency since data had to travel considerable distances to be stored. This is where edge computing comes in. With edge computing, the data is collected and stored closer to the location, making it easier to access, store, and manage. 

Edge computing will require an extensive cloud computing infrastructure to enable deployment across the globe. Cloud computing will support data storage (cloud file storage, object storage) in numerous locations ensuing load balance. Edge will be the forerunners of a new decentralized world.

Use cases: Think IoT devices, driverless cars, 5G technology, smart homes, smart lights, smart grids.

The closer to the source of information, the easier and faster data can be accessed, which will help in making quick and timely decisions using the correct information. These devices will have the power to access local information and make quick decisions without worrying about connecting to servers halfway around the globe. 

Edge computing will focus on the decentralization of data sources to be closer to organizations, and G2 expects to see this trend forming in 2022 and beyond.

Source: TechTarget

Final thoughts

Cloud computing is here to stay. The cloud computing world will see several significant changes in 2022 and beyond, but to sum it up—2020 and 2021 were the years of the cloud, and 2022 will be the year for cloud management.