Cloud computing is a way of life for almost every business today. Whether it's a small firm with just a handful of employees, or a multinational brand with state-of-the-art IT systems, it's almost impossible to operate these days without some form of cloud-based solution.
But trying to define what exactly we mean by the cloud isn't always easy. While on the base level its sounds pretty straightforward to define - services that are delivered and hosted by a third party - within this, there are a few cloud computing models that you need to be aware of.
Public cloud is no longer only for the most forward-looking and tech-savvy businesses - it’s now firmly established itself as a way of life for every enterprise. For instance, figures from Gartner showed the global market for these tools was estimated to grow by 6.3% in 2020, reaching a total of $257.9 billion. What's more, Flexera's 2021 State of the Cloud Report found 92% of enterprises now have a multi-cloud strategy, with firms using an average of 2.6 public cloud services each.
Although this continued a trend that’s been seen for several years, the unusual conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 especially highlighted the benefits of public cloud. Gartner noted access-anywhere services, the ability to scale up with ease and a reduced need for costly capital expenditure all contributed to greater demand for the cloud.
As the world of work changes for good, this interest is likely to be sustained for the long term. Indeed, Flexera's report suggests nine out of ten firms expect their cloud usage to exceed prior plans as a result of COVID-19.