2014 and Beyond: 5 Bold Predictions on Where the Cloud Will Take Us

I often think about where all of the new innovations will take us and what opportunities are out there for businesses.   I have compiled a list of my favorite predictions which I think have the best chance of coming to fruition.

1)  Fully Virtual New Businesses

These days the cloud has almost everything a start up business needs.  Websites, email, phone systems, servers, financial systems and more are already available via the cloud.  The only problem is you have to go to many different providers to bring all of these aspects together. 

I predict service providers will become a “one-stop-shop” for starting a business providing everything they need.  I foresee an “app store” where you can grab a website, VDI, cloud computing for test dev, a CRM and phone system for your sales team, Quickbooks for accounting, hosted Exchange and SharePoint, marketing software, backup and disaster recovery solution all in one place. 

This will make starting a small business easier and with “one throat to choke” simpler to manage.  Cloud service providers will become resellers for other SaaS solutions to fit every need a small business may have.

2)  Service providers will be the #1 employer of IT personnel

With starting a company in the cloud and going to your service provider for all of your needs, they will need to beef up their managed services teams.  The services providers will need armies of experienced and knowledgeable IT professionals to handle the rapidly growing demand.  A fully hosted organization will have little need for an IT team.  That doesn’t mean they won’t be needed at all, just that the open positions will move from the individual business to service providers. 

Not all of the IT positions will migrate to the service providers.  There will need to be someone who can work with their service provider to trouble shoot problems and maintain onsite network equipment.

3)  Plumbers, HVAC, electricians, and building contractors will need to hire IT teams.

Our houses and appliances are already utilizing the cloud for security and remote management of our home.  Right now that is usually set up by the service provider but soon contractors will be including it in the new homes they build.  This will require the other service contractors (plumbers, electricians, etc) to ramp up their knowledge of networking and technology or to hire someone to manage that part of the business.

M2M (machine 2 machine) communication is rapidly evolving and will integrate everything we use together.  Residential wiring closets and network equipment will become a standard element in the home of the future similar to how the breaker box is today.  The “geek squads” of the world will be a common service we call on, similar to a plumber or electrician.

4)  Enterprise hardware will not go away

I often hear how the cloud will replace all equipment purchased by enterprises.  I agree that sales will continue to decline but there will always be a small minority who will hold on to their hardware.  It may be due to nostalgia or pure stubbornness but it will never go away.   For example, Vinyl records are still being produced and used today.  The manufacturers will likely begin producing less and less hardware for enterprises and will need to increase production of hardware for service providers. 

5)  Consumer VDI will take over the PC market

Once the price for VDI comes down it will infiltrate the consumer market and will likely be provided by their current cable and internet provider for a monthly fee.  Eventually consumers will go the way of businesses and stop buying PCs bundled with an operating system, word processing .  They will utilize VDI for personal computing and store their files on their personal cloud storage account. Once the price for VDI comes down it will infiltrate the consumer market and will likely be provided by their current cable and internet provider for a monthly fee.

The majority of consumers PCs are used for internet browsing, social media, and homework and everything needed for that will be standard in the consumer VDI.  Other applications like photoshop or games will be purchased through an app store.  Apple has already begun the app store trend for PCs and this model will be adopted quickly by Windows.