By Aviram Levy
Tech Evangelist

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2023 has been an eventful year for cloud computing. A global economic recession posed a substantial challenge for the industry, prompting a shift toward cost optimization within the cloud world. Meanwhile, advanced ML systems like GenAI, GPT, and LLM were commoditized and became accessible globally, ushering in an era of innovative breakthroughs.

With adoption rates of cloud technology continuing to surge and global cloud expenditure expected to surpass the $1 trillion mark in the coming year, the cloud industry’s pervasive influence on the business world is likely to expand. It is set to be a year marked by the objective of ‘doing more with less,’ as the industry focuses on optimizing key cloud processes such as cost, operational efficiency, and security.

As a new year of challenges and innovation gets in motion, we set our gaze on the horizon to explore what 2024 has in store. How will 2024 change the trends and norms of the cloud computing world? We present Zesty’s predictions for the cloud in 2024.

Hyperautomation and the Accelerating Growth of AI & ML

In 2023, AI emerged as a burgeoning force in cloud computing, with no signs of slowing down. In 2024, AI and ML will become primary drivers of growth in the industry, with novel services such as AI-as-a-service streamlining their optimization capabilities across cloud infrastructure. Notable indicators such as Amazon’s Q debut, the surge in Nvidia stock, and the advent of OpenAI through Azure underscore the industry’s profound reliance on artificial intelligence.

Another defining trend at the intersection between cloud computing and AI in 2024 will be the rise of Hyperautomation, which combines AI and ML technologies with automation tools such as RPAs and self-driving cars. Hyperautomation aims to automate not only routine and repetitive tasks but also real-time sophisticated and decision-intensive processes, ultimately improving overall operational efficiency and agility.

Managed Platforms Will Be Even More Prevalent

As the cloud environment evolves and changes, maximizing its benefits becomes increasingly challenging. This complexity, along with the growing understanding of the monetary and technical challenges of cloud infrastructure, will see companies flock to the various managed cloud platforms as they look to streamline cloud services. Adoption rates of managed platforms have been growing year by year, and the expanding integration of AI into cloud services will only accelerate this trend. Be it through Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) such as AWS, Azure, and GCP or giant tech companies such as Snowflake, Databricks, and Mongo, managed cloud services will become increasingly essential.

A Persistent Focus on Cost Optimization

Amazon’s CTO Werner Vogels’s keynote address at 2023 re:Invent, in which he coined the term “The Frugal Architect,” marked a shift in the way the industry approaches the issue of cost optimization. Initially, a matter of necessity, cost optimization was treated as an afterthought in the development process, but now is beginning to be perceived as a vital component of any scalable and sustainable environment. Businesses that strive to adhere to these principles will need to learn how to integrate cost considerations into their cloud strategies from the outset.

2024 will see organizations of all sizes gravitate more strongly towards cost-effective approaches and the notion of architecting “with cost in mind.” As Vogels noted, optimizing cost in that fashion necessitates organization-wide adjustments, as it calls for the continuous modification of resource allocation. This includes accurate monitoring of resource expenditure, ensuring expenses align with revenue-generating avenues within the operation, and a strong emphasis on sustainability.

Enhanced Resilience with Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Infrastructures

Enterprises are increasingly recognizing the strategic advantages of adopting multi-cloud and hybrid approaches, and this trend will continue to grow in 2024. The traditional notion of entrusting all cloud-related operations to a single provider is being reconsidered as organizations seek to diversify their cloud portfolio, enhance their resilience, and tailor solutions more accurately to their needs. However, the trend will ripple as top cloud providers, who are well aware of this shift, will work harder on expanding their array of services and discount packages to meet a more diverse range of technological and financial needs.

The Continued Reign of Kubernetes for Managing Containerized Environments

Perhaps the most important trend to look out for in 2024 is the continued growth trajectory of kubernetes, which grew rapidly into an industry standard for containerized orchestration. As the cloud industry takes strides towards containerized architecture, kubernetes will become even more prominent in 2024, producing powerful tools to optimize deployment, monitoring, security, development, cost management and more. Perhaps most interesting is Kubernetes’s ability to support quantum workloads and the impact it will have on the development of cloud-native quantum computing.

Change Is Coming

In 2024, change will remain a constant within the cloud world, and its widespread adoption will continue to rise. From the continued influence of AI shaping industry dynamics to the strategic adoption of multi-cloud, cost optimization imperatives, and the unwavering reign of Kubernetes in container orchestration, the future promises to be dynamic, transformative, and hopefully cost-efficient!