InterXion : Three Predictions for Enterprise Cloud in...

The cloud has fueled digital transformation like no other technology before. In 2018, we saw major cloud platforms change how enterprises digest and distribute technology and private clouds have brought new services to enterprises as well. Moreover, we saw companies exploring hybrid-cloud and multi-cloud trying to determine which cloud strategies work best for their organization.

While it's unsurprising that we will continue to see enterprises leveraging cloud to drive their digital transformations to stay a step ahead of their competition, what exactly will that look like in 2019 and beyond? Let's take a look at some of the enterprise cloud trends I expect we'll see over the next 12 months.

Enterprises will be smarter about the cloud

The cloud has quickly become a mainstay in the enterprise. With its promises of increased flexibility, agility and lowers costs, it's easy to understand why. However, early on, many businesses dove in to the cloud head first, and quickly realized that that not only are not all apps meant to be reengineered for the cloud, but even a lift and shift approach doesn't always work. Now they're forced to back away from the cloud and start from the beginning.

Because of this, in 2019, I believe that while enterprises will continue to adopt cloud in a more ferocious way, they'll do it with a better layer of intelligence on top. At Interxion, we like to compare the cloud adoption journey to riding the underground. There's no need to worry if you miss that first train; another one is guaranteed to follow up just behind it. By waiting for when the time is right and putting more consideration into where and how best to leverage various cloud options for each application, enterprise IT teams can confidently ensure that they'll deliver a smooth, trouble-free transition to a cloud environment. This more conscientious strategy will allow them to truly reap the benefits of the technology.

Artificial Intelligence will drive cloud adoption

While only 15 percent of enterprises are using artificial intelligence (AI) as of today, 31 percent are expected to add it to their portfolio over the coming 12 months. As companies increasingly integrate a variety of AI-driven technologies across voice, vision, language and machine learning in order to transform their businesses and get the competitive edge in 2019, I believe they will be leveraging cloud technologies as a matter of course.

Think about it, AI feeds off of data, and the more data it accesses, the more intelligent it can become. Since cloud environments can support enormous volumes of data, it can help provide AI systems with the information they need to learn. These systems can also lean on the cloud for data storage, analytics and computational power.

Location is becoming more important to enterprises

Today's enterprises have the need for speed. Whether it's application to application or application to end user, businesses need data to move faster than ever before. As a result, in 2019 I expect enterprises to pay closer attention to the location of their data.

For example, as data continues to be created in exponential ways, there is a greater likelihood that additional services and applications will be attracted to this data. This is what we call data gravity. However, while some of this data will be stored in the cloud, other reliant data may not be. This means that the reliant data will need to be in close proximity to the data in the cloud in order to garner the increased speed and performance that businesses are vying for.

But data sources aren't the only components that need to be near each other. Vast amounts of data must also be delivered to end users. So, businesses will need to make sure that the geographic location of their cloud and data is located near major markets and customers to ensure they can deliver exceptional end-user experiences.

Taking the location of where their data is into consideration will guarantee the fastest access to data, the highest levels of connectivity and bandwidth and minimal levels of latency that businesses need to compete today.

In 2019, the cloud will continue to push enterprises digital transformation. But in order to succeed, enterprises will need an IT infrastructure that can provide interconnection to the cloud and connectivity providers that will help them meet their unique needs.

To learn more about how Interxion can support your enterprise's digital transformation click here.