The future of Cloud technology, part 1
I’m Kimberley Barrass and I joined Kainos in 2019 as a Solutions Architect working on delivering public cloud platform solutions and was delighted to be to be asked to give some of our observations on the future of Cloud technology.
As this is a large subject; this will be the first of a three part blog series on the future of cloud technology. Watch out for part two and three in the coming weeks.
1. Shift to SaaS offerings from cloud providers
Over time, I have observed an acceleration of the move from ISVs to SaaS offerings that are delivered on the public cloud. Previously, I have worked with companies who are investigating moving complex, existing software stacks, such as medical imaging software looking to move away from a hosted solution delivered on a per client basis into a multi-tenant SaaS offering, and this trend is only going to continue. Kainos offers ISVs the expertise to help deliver their offerings as a cloud solution and leverage solutions that scale on demand and are deliverable through a more modern approach.
2. Shift from x86 to ARM
Cloud providers are increasingly likely to offer a compute platform provisioned for ARM processing, such as AWS Graviton - an offering which already exists. ISVs will be able to utilise the speed and ease of entry into an ARM platform to deliver efficiencies and savings for their customers, and even providers of bespoke software will leverage the benefits of ARM computing underpinning the software deployment plane.
ARM processing in the cloud will provide an even lower cost of entry to cloud computing for customers who can leverage its instruction set.
3. Less focus on technology
In the maturing ecosystems of the cloud leaders, I see an increasing focus on people and processes from the cloud vendors, who will, as well as competing on technology, innovation and cost also increasingly look to drive uptake by solving real world problems, with a focus on the people running the platforms, using them, and most importantly the business processes that the cloud platforms enable.
I see this already with professional service offerings from AWS and Microsoft, as well as an increasing whitepaper focus on processes and how to realise business benefits here and here.
What do these observations mean?
These observations tell two different stories. The first, is that Software Vendors will increasingly move toward low cost cloud solutions over time, which may allow mobile and desktop devices to continue a move toward lower compute power (chromebook, etc.) as more business software is provided to the device using cloud side processing.
The second is that the entry to deliver software into the cloud will be at an increasingly lower level of entry for a basic service. For me this means it's an area where my colleagues and I will be able to help our clients, as in an ever-growing marketplace, the ability to help clients deliver quicker, more stable and efficient cloud solutions will provide a key differentiator for them.
In the second entry in this mini series I will look at three more of my observations in a little more depth. Watch this space for more.