Coined by renowned cyberpunk author Neal Stephenson in his seminal 1992 novel Snow Crash, avatars interact with each other in a shared space he dubbed the metaverse. The 2018 film Ready Player One articulated, too, for many, the realisation of what the metaverse will become once we’re equipped with the technology to deliver these immersive experiences.

Virtual environments have existed since the inception of the web; forums and chat rooms are a form of virtual meeting place, for example. The early experiments of Jaron Lanier with virtual reality (VR) pushed the concept of the metaverse into a three-dimensional space, while Second Life defined how a three-dimensional virtual meeting space could work. Today, games such as Minecraft and Roblox are the latest iterations of the metaverse.

Recent incarnations of the metaverse manifest in popular games like Minecraft

Enter Facebook and its ambitions to create what founder Mark Zuckerberg calls “the successor to the mobile internet”. In this space, “we’ll be able to feel present – like we’re right there with people no matter how far apart we actually are”. Using the company’s Oculus VR headsets, combined with advanced augmented reality (AR), a Ready Player One-like environment is promised. Not to be outdone, other companies have also detailed similar plans, most notably Microsoft with ambitions to adapt Teams to offer a more metaverse-like experience, in the form of Mesh. Despite the hype, are these new spaces actually primed for businesses to reach new heights?

Always online

“Welcome to Mesh for Teams,” announced Microsoft technical fellow Alex Kipman in November, who insisted this vision of mixed reality, 12 years in the making, is something customers are clamouring for. Accenture, indeed, has recently created a digital twin of its headquarters using Mesh with the capacity to reside 10,000 employees within this virtual space.

The idea is to use existing devices to connect individuals in prebuilt spaces represented by their avatars. They hope this new space isn’t just Microsoft Office on virtual steroids, but a new way of not just meeting but collaborating. For some, though, Facebook’s reimagining of the metaverse is nothing short of a disaster. Roger McNamee, an early Facebook investor, for example, told BBC News: «It’s a bad idea and the fact we are all sitting and looking at this like it’s normal should be alarming everyone. Facebook should not be allowed to create a dystopian metaverse,” he added. 

Accenture recently used Mesh to build a digital twin of its HQ, with a capacity for 10,000 participants

VR is in every business’ future, though, according to CEO of Mesmerise, Andrew Hawke. «What we’ve seen Zuckerberg do with the metaverse is show that one of the most prominent tech companies in history just bet the farm on VR,” he tells IT Pro. “I can’t think of a more bullish signal that business will be conducted in VR than that. Hearing Zuckerberg’s words, I don’t believe it will be long before large businesses have teams dedicated to exploiting this medium.”

Zuckerberg’s dream still needs technologies to catch up with the hype, however, Niklas Bakos, chief strategy officer and founder of Adverty, points out. «Mostly, the hype cycle around the metaverse involves products and infrastructure that don’t quite exist yet,” he cautions. “To render genuinely compelling environments, we need quantum computing, mature blockchain technology, stable cryptocurrencies and protocols around non-fungible Tokens (NFTs). The goggles, headsets, haptic interfaces, and digital skins we will presumably use haven’t been made yet. Red Dead Redemption 2 was eight years in development. Building an entire, decentralised virtual world, one with its own economic systems, takes time.” 

Open for business 

Are we going to see a land grab as the metaverse takes shape? Nextech AR, for example, acquired ARWAY, a firm specialising in AR and AI mapping applications, in August, priming it to exploit the metaverse. Businesses reluctant to pursue strategies involving any migration to a shared virtual space could be left behind, though, with more agile companies beating them to the punch on exploring this potentially highly lucrative space. Startups may also challenge the incumbents across various sectors with metaverse-focused services.

“The metaverse is not a new concept, frankly, but with Facebook attempting to put its stamp on it, there will be a lot of business sectors eager to take advantage of Meta’s offering,” explains Rob Nash, founder and MD at the intelligent self-service agency, 4 Roads. “Nike has already appointed a ‘head of metaverse.’ This isn’t surprising, given the fashion industries previous forays into AR-enabled experiences. Consumer industries like travel and banking – even health – are also obvious ones to benefit. In the B2B sector, too, it has the potential to revolutionise training and remote working practises.”

For businesses, the metaverse could become a highly lucrative space for digital products. For example, within virtual gaming, the purchase of virtual tools and other artefacts is commonplace. The metaverse could, therefore, become a commercial marketplace with much further reach. A business, for example, could create a store in the metaverse and sell unique virtual items to collectors. Gucci has already experimented with this on Roblox. Indeed members of Gen Z, says vice president for brand partnerships at Roblox, sometimes see virtual products as more valuable than physical ones. The traceability of virtual goods makes counterfeiting difficult, too, unlike real-world designer goods. 

Immersive futures

How the metaverse actually manifests for businesses and their customers remains to be seen. Parodies such as Icelandverse, an “entirely immersive open-world experience” and continued advances in AR, will temper the enthusiasm for a fully immersive space that virtualises the web’s capabilities.

The business opportunities could be vast, however, Garry Williams, business director, UNIT9, tells IT Pro. «The biggest overarching benefit is that owning a virtual brand world allows all their activities to be brought together in one place. Gone are the days of separate apps for each new campaign, temporary microsites for limited edition products, and online events for different time zones,” he explains. “With a virtual brand world, all of this can live together in one easily accessible location for audiences around the world to tap into and enjoy around the clock.”

Nash also points out that we haven’t even considered the security and privacy implications: «When it comes to the metaverse more generally, there are numerous challenges around regulation, privacy, sovereign boundaries and more to consider. Regarding Mark Zuckerberg’s vision – I’d urge caution.

According to research from Virtana, 72% of enterprises have moved one or more applications from the public cloud back on-premises. 

The top reasons for the change included the applications should not have been moved to a public cloud in the first place (41%), technical issues associated with public cloud provisioning (36%), degradation of performance (29%), and unexpected cloud costs (20%).

As the cloud has become a vital component of almost every business’ IT infrastructure – especially since COVID-19 took hold – many enterprises that rushed their expansion of hosted applications are now re-evaluating how they create, manage and deploy cloud services.

Speaking to IT Pro on the publication of the report, Kash Shaikh, President and CEO of Virtana, explains how a cloud deployment should be handled. «Critical applications should never be rushed to the cloud,” he says. “There is really no reason to do it when there are partners and platforms that can help ensure applications will run smoothly in the public cloud and for the right cost.

Creating a multi-cloud environment that can meet the challenges businesses face today and how their IT infrastructures will need to support their processes and remote staff in a post-COVID-19 landscape, is critical to get right.

Taking a step back and evaluating how cloud services are bought and integrating into a business should be a priority for all CTOs. After weathering the initial COVID storm, now is the time to closely audit how cloud services may have proliferated and how these can be rationalised moving forward.

Repatriating data

How applications and the data they rely upon are used is now very different than it was before remote mass working has become the norm. In its 2021 Hybrid Cloud Report, NTT encapsulates the current drivers behind the hybrid cloud, stating: “Business continuity, resilience, and agility are the priority business objectives.” The pandemic’s practical impact  is, in some cases, an underestimation of the network infrastructures needed to support the rapid changes enterprises had to cope with.

The security of data at rest and in motion has never been more critical. Cloud services, by their nature, offer consumption-based flexible environments, yet the visibility of these services can be opaque in some instances. This lack of transparency can lead to a loss of control and low-levels of security. As digital transformation continues, it is essential to increase visibility levels to ensure data security is robust.

How any given business uses data can be a practical guide when decisions have to be made whether more public cloud services are used. If large quantities of data will be in motion across several network endpoints, there is a case for moving it out of the public cloud.

As the quantity of data businesses will have to manage expands thanks to IoT, for instance, focusing on the unique requirements this data needs to deliver efficient value will be the core guide to whether on-prem, public or hybrid cloud deployments will be required. It’s no surprise that this re-evaluation of cloud deployment had given rise to new services such as HPE Greenlake.

Tracy Woo, a senior analyst with Forrester, believes the HPE model could offer the secure flexible cloud services all businesses will need. «Most datacentre purchases are heterogeneous or under one brand, [products] like Greenlake offer folks a ‘capacity on demand’ model that is primarily a financing and contractual vehicle to enable incremental purchases. As hyperconverged systems gain traction, full-stack infrastructure solutions for compute, storage, and network become inseparable and are subject to subscription- or consumption-based pricing paving a future for businesses like Greenlake and also Dell’s Project Apex.”

A hybrid future?

Post-pandemic, it’s clear more distributed resources will be used to support remote working and, critically, secure resources. Here the rush to expand cloud services to keep vital networks operating often meant securing these services was not a priority. Post-pandemic, this must change. 

NTT found that 93% of organisations agree cloud is critical to meeting their immediate business needs, while 88% agree it’s also essential to meeting their future business needs. The hybrid cloud has become the foundation onto which these new services will be built. But the hybrid cloud must be thoroughly evaluated to ensure this structure can meet the needs of the workers using these systems.

As work has changed, so must the cloud services that support the networks business use today and will need in the near future. In the face of an increased desire to use data-intensive technologies such as machine learning, and continuing and expanding cyberthreats, it’s not surprising many IT professionals are evaluating whether the public cloud can deliver the performance and visibility they need at an affordable cost.

Some of the core reasons for data repatriation identified in IDC’s multi-cloud survey include security ( 25% of respondents) and performance (22% of respondents). Additionally, 12% of European organisations stated that their migration of business applications to the cloud was unsuccessful.

Carla Arend, senior program director for Cloud Research Europe at IDC, comments: «Cloud strategy and data strategy need to converge, and organisations need to have a good understanding of their data estate when crafting their cloud strategy. Data classification is critical to make sure which data can be moved to the cloud and which data should stay on-premises, for example for regulatory compliance purposes.”

No one is arguing for data and applications to move wholesale back on-prem. What is being highlighted, especially now that businesses have gained some perspective on their cloud deployments during the last year, is that a more strategic approach is needed to their cloud strategy.

Shaikh believes a more nuanced and integrated approach is needed. “Although IT applications can be strategic, business owners look for SaaS, PaaS, or even IaaS as options to reduce capital expense, labour, utilities, and accounting. They are in the business of selling products, not running data centres,” he says. “The reason why on-premises data centres will linger around is the time and investment to the critical infrastructure that runs the critical applications that are very difficult to uproot.”

No CTO can ignore the cloud. However, with a working landscape in flux and an expanding need to further embrace hosted applications, a new strategic approach is needed to ensure the cloud services created are fit for purpose. 

The hybrid approach is still an option most businesses will choose. However, re-evaluating their application, data access and network needs, might just reveal new approaches to hosted services that could offer the cost-savings, security and efficiency gains needed for their business to thrive post-COVID-19.

One of the starkest consequences of the pandemic is the fragmentation of workforces. Mass working from home was at first expected to be short-term, but now looks set to become permanent as companies look to radically alter how they organise and manage their employees.

Businesses have used collaboration tools for decades, allowing individuals and teams to work efficiently together. COVID-19 made these tools vital and a hub around which workers could congregate. However, the speed at which some businesses rolled out these tools to remote workers was often hurried anot strategically planned. Now that enterprises have had time to assess what extended home working means to them and what tools they really need to make it work, we may see the emergence of a new age of collaboration tools.

It’s no surprise that the fastest-growing apps during the pandemic have been workspace management and collaboration tools. According to Okta’s Business at Work report, Miro, an app offering whiteboard functionality for teams, experienced 301% growth; measured by unique users, it grew 449% in just a year. 

Deployment of project management app Smartsheet has grown 170% over the past three years. Slack has cemented itself as the leading messaging tool with 190% growth. And deployments of Zoom grew over 45% between March and October 2020, while Webex grew 15% and RingCentral grew 18% during this same period.

Martin Langan, chairman and innovation director at legalmatters, tells Cloud Pro that his company has been using the cloud-based NetDocuments service to help its 20-strong workforce manage their document loads. “The implementation of NetDocuments has played a big part in enabling the firm to continue ‘business as usual’ operations despite employees being unable to work from its office,” he says. “At present, legalmatters is only scratching the surface of what its employees can do with NetDocuments, and the firm expects further benefits to be realised once COVID-19 ‘lockdown’ measures are eased.”

Tools, then, need to be chosen and deployed carefully to ensure they are fit for purpose, but also, that their end users are comfortable with their features. Legacy systems also need to be taken into consideration – often, several tools will be used together, which can provide integration and security challenges.

With this in mind, unifying collaboration tools will become the Holy Grail of many businesses post-COVID-19 to avoid efficiency declines and ongoing security issues. Zoom’s new ability to integrate with Google Calendar and Microsoft’s Together Mode are examples of how this might look, as providers take the opportunity to make their products more attractive in an increasingly remote-focused business world.

New Tools

Carl Harris, group director at BCS (The Chartered Institute for IT) says there has been a shift over the past 12 months in how collaboration tools are used: “Certainly, at the start of the pandemic, the single biggest change in our use of collaboration tools was not which tools we are using, but how we would use the ones at our disposal differently.”

He adds: “Take Microsoft Teams as an example. Prior to lockdown Teams was a value-add collaboration tool, enabling us to reach employees via a simple video call more easily on those irregular occasions when somebody may be working from home. Now it is an integral part of our everyday working. All daily employee interaction is conducted through the tool, and the use of the tool’s features have expanded from just simple video calling to an extensive use of all it has to offer.”

Jörn Rabach, director at architecture practice Hutchinson & Partners, tells Cloud Pro his organisation has found significant benefits in melding a specialist remote working and collaboration tool into its existing systems.

“We have recently adopted Inevidesk, a virtual desktop solution which has been developed specifically for the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) sector,” he says. “Most importantly, this solution integrated seamlessly into our existing set-up, allowing the teams to directly work off our London based servers while avoiding the cost and complexity of a hybrid infrastructure solution.”

Fran Nolan, MD of content agency Tribera, explains that her company, too, found itself needing more than the basic level of collaboration platform that everyone flocked to in March 2020.

“We immediately had to get Microsoft Teams as we needed an intuitive way to meet on video as much as possible. We regularly use the chat function too to stay connected and try to keep those collaborative conversations going,” she says. “We then got GetBusy as we were finding we had too many work channels open with email, Slack andWhatsApp so we now use GetBusy which still integrates with email, but the task assignment and completion are a lot slicker.”

Transforming connections

What does all this mean for the future, both of business and of collaboration technology? One type of technology that holds some promise for meetings in particular is alternate reality, virtual reality, and extended reality – with Cloud Pro‘s sister title, IT Pro, having already trialled an example of this in the form of Vive Sync.

Jocelyn Lomer, chief executive at nuVa Enterprises, which develops a virtual meeting room application, explains to Cloud Pro that while the tools we’ve been using so far have plugged a hole, we need to build on them.

“The desktop video apps are insufficiently rich and do not deliver innovative solutions or allow the mind to range freely,” she says. “Traditional desktop collaboration tools like MS Teams and Zoom have proven to be partly sufficient, but frequently employees are left frustrated, stressed and exhausted from the limitations of the asynchronous tools.”

Shaun Lynn, CEO of channel services provider Agilitas, says that as COVID restrictions subside, businesses will begin to reconsider how they create a more collaborative and flexible workplace outside a time of crisis.

“Collaboration tools need to support this migration, with connectivity and compatibility being key focus areas,” Lynn says. “Like all software-based tools, this will be an evolution rather than a revolution. Market demand will define functionality, and the vendors of collaborative tools who respond the quickest will be the ones to succeed. Like all great tech, some will become the VHS of collaboration tools and others will be Betamax.”

All businesses, no matter their siz,e have been transforming at speed as the pandemic has re-shaped their workforces. Choosing the right collaboration tools that deliver efficient services to remote teams and individuals are now the cornerstone all companies can build upon. But business leaders should also appreciate that these tools are not just for process management. Collaboration tools can connect remote workers on a personal level. Collaboration is about work, but also reinforcing social relationships that are critical for every employee’s wellbeing.

The COVID pandemic has changed many aspects of IT, including how businesses manage their digital assets. For many organisations, Active Directory (AD) has for many years been a workhorse that could be depended upon when most of their workforce was centrally located, however the move to mass remote working means it’s vulnerable to cyberattacks. Nevertheless, it remains a critical support mechanism for each worker connected to a company’s network, which leaves IT teams in a tricky situation.

According to Gartner, over 90% of businesses and organisations use AD, and it has become one of the most valuable assets they possess. However, as the business environment AD is used to manage has become more complex and geographically dispersed, the way it’s deployed in most organisations must change.

Businesses have also had to re-evaluate and redraw their digital transformation roadmaps to take into consideration how their processes have changed and what this means for their more comprehensive strategic planning. And while bring your own device (BYOD) has long been a security issue for organisations, the upheaval the pandemic has delivered opens a new series of logistical, human resource, and security challenges, as devices – both company and employee-owned – proliferate.

«Active Directory is like the spinal column of an enterprise and it must be closely protected,” explains Matt Lock, technical director at data security firm Varonis. “If an attacker manages to seize control of AD, they effectively hold the keys to an organisation’s digital kingdom and have privileged access throughout the domain, where they can cause serious damage.”

The cloud has played a critical role in enabling businesses to scale and manage digital assets using AD as the primary management hub. However, companies’ current deployments are likely to become fragile and vulnerable to attack; whereas until last year IT departments had a clear sight of each asset within a business and who has what level of access privileges, this view has moved out of focus with the sudden shift to mass remote working. 

What’s needed is a new approach beginning with migrating AD to a cloud service. Performing this migration gives businesses a more detailed view of your asset landscape and enables higher levels of security to be deployed and maintained.

AD transformation

For most organisations, asset management pre-COVID was a relatively straightforward exercise in user and device tracking. Now the working and threat perimeter has moved to the homes of their workforce, keeping track of the entire IT estate and ensuring high levels of security are maintained has become much more complex. Migrating AD to the cloud can deliver more oversight and integrated support to users who need this to secure their equipment and network connections.

Dan Conrad, field strategist at One Identity, tells IT Pro: “Since the rollout in 2000, AD has changed significantly and the impact of Zero Trust campaigns will change this further. At its core, AD is an SSO (Single Sign-On) solution designed for an easy user experience by providing easy access to objects. Active Directory and Azure Active Directory (AAD) have changed the game a bit by still providing the good user experience but detaching some of the vulnerabilities. For instance, the idea of joining every corporate system to the AD is no longer necessary. AAD and solutions such as Intune allow management of the systems without the vulnerability that goes with every system being ‘trusted.’” 

Many companies see the continued migration of AD to the cloud as the solution to the issues they face managing the array of assets their businesses use. With security front of mind, migrating an AD to a cloud platform can deliver a level of insulation from some cyberattacks.

The holistic approach to managing what could be a diverse range of devices now being used across your business, requires your control and security systems to change. Businesses are increasingly creating domain-joined and BYOD/non-domain-joined systems to give themselves the maximum flexibility with the assets their staff uses, simultaneously delivering a security infrastructure that is more resilient than a simple cloud or on-prem solution.

The business of consumerisation

The threat surface all businesses now face requires a new approach to network management and device security. As early as March 2020, IDC predicted that within two years, over 90% of enterprises worldwide will have a hybrid cloud deployment. As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, there has been a rush to implement this approach, with businesses being pushed to radically alter how they manage their workforces and the technologies and services they use.

Rajesh Ganesan, vice president at ManageEngine, tells IT Pro: «A cloud-native hybrid IT infrastructure helps organisations respond to change and uncertainty better. That said, even as organisations move to a cloud-first or cloud-dominant approach, it’s important that application, infrastructure, and data security are not compromised.”

Alastair Pooley, CIO of Snow Software, adds: “As we switch to more SaaS applications, you either need to use Azure Active Directory (along with the relevant licenses) or something like Okta to provide that single sign on experience to your staff. Either approach allows you to maintain a corporate directory to control access to resources. It is worth noting that you should re-examine your endpoint security, as traditional group policy (GPO) doesn’t deliver for remote workers. Microsoft’s Defender ATP coupled with Intune is a powerful combination but again you need new licenses to deliver that.”

How your business will manage its human resources and digital assets in a post-COVID-19 environment remains to be seen, as enterprises have yet to make firm plans regarding where the vast majority of their employees will work from. Some workers will return to centralised offices. 

However, a high percentage will remain as remote workers. In this scenario, putting place a flexible and secure system to manage your company’s assets is a sensible move. The agility migrating AD to the cloud can deliver is a desirable option. Review your business’s asset management as it stands today. With some realistic forward planning, you will be able to create bespoke asset management protocols that are right for your staff, and the long-term security of your business.

The cloud now forms an integral part of every business’ IT infrastructure. Increasingly, however, the growth of the cloud market and incredible range of choice of products and platforms on offer has led to multi-cloud fatigue.

The often-haphazard deployment of cloud services from multiple vendors has also created management challenges that have been exacerbated thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Are we now in a situation where CTOs need to take action to rationalise their cloud deployments?

The latest cloud study from IBM reveals that 64% of executives plan to migrate more mission-critical workloads to the cloud in the next two years. If not done carefully, however, this could easily lead to more cloud bloat and a consequent aggravation of management and service support issues.

While it can be tempting to just throw money and resources at the problem, this can often result in expanding existing cloud deployments or buying new services without the due diligence needed to ensure they can be integrated efficiently and securely with legacy installations. Information technology service management (ITSM), when coupled with cloud management platforms (CMPs), has, in some cases, exposed weak links in existing cloud infrastructures.

Management of large multi-cloud deployments is also difficult to do effectively. According to the State of the Cloud 2020 report from Flexera, applications are often siloed across the cloud architecture, with a third (33%) of respondents to this year’s survey using multi-cloud management tools. 

“Businesses often adopt a multi-cloud strategy to deliver specific applications or services, avoid cloud vendor lock-in, reduce costs, enable flexibility and increase scalability,” explains Paul Stapley, practice director at Logicalis. “However, multi-cloud adoption presents challenges for people and processes, as the more platforms you have, the more challenging it becomes to manage them. CTOs can face security challenges, connectivity reliability (problems), performance issues, and inconsistent service offerings, making it challenging to utilise and operate multi-cloud deployments efficiently.”

Reducing the cloud architecture’s complexity would enable a far more cost-effective, secure, and efficient cloud service to be constructed and then managed. The danger of businesses’ reaction to COVID-19, which saw a rush to implement ever more cloud services, is an unstructured and unplanned expansion with consequent weak security and lack of management oversight.

Is one cloud enough?

CTOs struggling to manage multi-cloud deployments and ‘cloud bloat’ may wonder if moving everything back to a single cloud is the way forward, but that’s not necessarily the best answer, either.

“With a clear strategy and approach for using multiple clouds, businesses can avoid the issue of ‘cloud bloat’,” Maynard Williams, MD of Accenture Technology UK tells IT Pro. “This strategy must cover both the specific use cases for cloud service provider offerings and how transactions work end to end when they may span multiple clouds. For example, a business might put all of a particular type of workload, such as analytics, onto a specific cloud platform, while ensuring that an issue can be traced across multiple stacks. It also needs to consider hybrid options and transitional states as applications migrate to the cloud.”

Reducing the footprint of a business’ cloud deployments can also deliver much tighter security. Concerns about public cloud’s safety remain high, with Cavirin reporting nine out of ten cybersecurity professionals (91%) are extremely-to-moderately concerned about public cloud security. The most prominent challenge organisations face to their security operations is visibility into infrastructure security (44%), followed by setting consistent security policies across cloud and on-premises environments, and with compliance, which tied at 42% each.

Speaking to IT Pro, Anne Hardy, CISO at Talend says: “Cloud security covers various aspects, the most important being governance, network, logical access control, data protection, security logging and monitoring, security incident response and disaster recovery. Every one of these aspects cannot be managed in the same way with AWS, Azure or GCP (Google Cloud Platform). This variation across multi-cloud deployments means a business needs a team of the right people who can understand all of these areas and the security needs of each.”

Whether and how businesses rationalise their cloud infrastructure will depend on their medium to long-term planning. As Logicalis’ Paul Stapley says, each company will react differently. “We know the correct cloud brings many benefits to the correct workloads. The reasons for both adopting and moving workloads need to be right. By no means is it a one-size-fits-all approach, or a set-in-stone process. As technology advances, and business needs change, the cloud is built to adjust accordingly to best manage those variations.”

New normal IT

Is a single cloud deployment the future of IT infrastructure? The Trinity of AWS, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Azure offer all businesses – no matter their size – a cloud deployment platform that can be lean and efficient. The one cloud approach seems distant at this point, however, and the propensity to use multiple cloud deployments often from different vendors shows little sign of slowing. Indeed, the pandemic has accelerated the expansion of public clouds to cope with remote mass working demands, with much of this new deployment being fragmented.

“Most enterprises will choose to work with at least one of the public cloud hyperscalers,” Accenture’s Maynard Williams explains. “And there’s good reason for this: There’s a great deal of competition in the market, so they’re investing heavily in areas like streamlining migration, adapting services for private clouds and pushing out to the edge. In addition, they are investing in a variety of industry-specific cloud solutions – for example, GE Healthcare is running its Health Cloud on Amazon AWS. A bespoke cloud deployment strategy can allow a business to get far more out of these investments than they could realistically achieve alone.”

Williams continues: “For most organisations, the optimal way forward is to select a primary hyperscaler for the majority of mission-critical workloads, and then work with one or more secondary providers dictated by the specific needs of the business. This might depend on regulations, industry, concentration of risk or specialised workloads. This enables the organisation to build core skills and experience on one platform but, take advantage of specialised solutions where it makes the most sense.”

All enterprises large and small, understand that in the post-COVID era, flexibility will be crucial to their long-term sustainability in their marketplaces. The cloud will continue to be a foundation all businesses use to deliver the IT services they need. 

Cloud bloat and the management and security issues these bring will be addressed. However, the cloud is a flexible space that can expand and contract as needed. Can one cloud serve all these requirements? It’s an unlikely scenario. But more streamlining and using fewer vendors look set to become the norm.

Screenless devices have seen massive expansion over the last three years. According to Strategy Analytics, 20% of UK households now have a smart speaker. In the US, which currently leads the world in smart speaker adoption, the figure is currently 30%, with Loup Ventures predicting that number will rise to 75% by 2025.

While we live in a time where visual content seems to be king, audio remains an important part of the consumer landscape. Radio consumption has continued to be buoyant, and with a renaissance in audiobook purchasing coupled with the rise of podcasts, screenless content is set to become an essential business channel over the next decade.

In a late-2019 report, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) stated: “Audio is an emotive modality: sound influences emotion. This is why music is a central cultural marker. It’s also why a speech can inspire millions to action. The ability for brands, therefore, to lean into audio as a method to tell meaningful, personal stories stands as a primary benefit of this channel.”

Businesses, then, need to adjust how they use content to reach their audiences. With increasing screen demands on consumers, many are escaping into audio as not just respite from screen time, but to obtain new experiences and education. Brands need to understand how sound is now an essential component of their communications.

Steve Austins, co-founder of the podcasting company Bengo Media, tells Cloud Pro: “Audio has survived because it’s a simple, effective and convenient form of communication, and it’s personal too. Over the last two decades, I’ve seen first-hand how important radio presenters can be to people – and how personally they take it when you make changes! A presenter is in a listener’s life day in, day out. Often, they spend more time with them than they do with their own friends and family.”

Audio is the new video

The ease of access to audio content is one of the key drivers behind the massive expansion of this content. Smartphones now have a raft of apps that connect with the leading audio content providers. Wireless earphones have also made accessing audio content convenient and smart speakers are now an essential part of everyday life.

Podcasts have also become incredibly popular: In 2019, over seven million people in the UK listened to a podcast each week according to Ofcom, an increase of nearly a quarter (24%) on the previous year. 

«Podcasts are transforming the ways people listen to audio content, just as on-demand video is changing how people watch television. It’s fantastic to see how UK radio broadcasters, as well as newspapers and other media companies, are embracing podcasting and offering more choice about what we listen to than we’ve ever had before,» commented Ian Macrae, Ofcom’s director of market intelligence, at the time.

The interesting thing about podcasts from a business perspective is their current low level of competition. There are now approaching a million podcasts in the marketplace. Compare this to 80 million Facebook business pages and it’s clear how podcasting can potentially be more effective for brand communication. 

What’s more, over 60% of podcast listeners will listen to the podcast to the end. Ads and promotions placed in a podcast are listened to, unlike ads in video, which are often skipped. According to research from the BBC, brand mentions in the podcast deliver on average 16% higher engagement and 12% higher memory encoding than the surrounding content.

Speaking to Cloud Pro, Alex Orosciuc, tech lead at JBi Digital, says: «There is much that today’s generation of audio content makers can learn from radio. Those who are making audio content, like podcasts, are standing on the shoulders of giants, and the medium has well and truly exploded in recent years. At the rate at which the landscape is changing, however, it could be argued that radio can learn from podcasts and other, newer forms of audio content as well.»

Podcasts are, though, just one type of audio content all businesses can explore: Audiobooks have exploded over the last few years driven mainly to the range of great apps that are available on smartphones. Deloitte predicts 2020 will see audiobook sales increase by 30%, generating £115 million.

Other forms of new audio content are also being produced. The New Yorker regularly creates audio versions of its features, for example, and blogging platforms like Medium also encourage their writers to record an audio version of their work. Businesses, meanwhile, are beginning to develop spoken-word versions of reports and whitepapers. 

“I think the most significant factor around audio content is that there is no trend to what content is being consumed,” says Mark Kendrick, founder of Ventoux Digital. “Unlike mainstream media, the podcast has found success in reverting from broadcasting to ‘nichecasting.’ Take a look at the top 100 podcasts in Apple Podcasts, and you’ll note that there is a real mix from crime to football to news to comedians to businesses. You get to see that there is an audience for everything, so make something which you are passionate about, and it finds like-minded people.”

Screenless strategies

Developing an audio strategy for your company is now essential, but there are obstacles to success that organisations may not have had to consider in the past.

Bengo Media’s Steve Austins advises: “Creators need to remember that audio is an intimate medium. You are talking to one person, not many people. Also, be clear and descriptive – people can’t see you or what you are describing, so you need to create a vivid picture with your words. 

“Sound quality is also really important. Bad audio can result in a very unpleasant listening experience, with erratic sound levels and distracting background noise becoming hugely irritating. This is especially the case for headphone listeners.”

Marek Wrobel, head of media futures at Havas Media Group, highlights another major hurdle. “One of the main challenges for advertisers is making screenless content actionable, as, with no screen, listeners can’t simply click on a banner and land on a website,” he says. “Historically, some brands have used discount codes which can be then applied in the purchase journey and therefore made it possible to measure the impact of the audio content.”

“However, this solution can only work for certain use-cases,” he continues. “Audio platforms have started experimenting with interactive ad formats. One such format is ‘shake-to-action’, which asks the listener to shake their phone while listening to open a website that they can browse after they finish listening. Spotify has worked with Unilever on voice-controlled audio ads – the idea is that when a user hears an ad, they can say «play now» and be taken to a piece of relevant content.”

The future of your business communications will have a growing audio component. The IAB concludes: “A world where consumer touchpoints are increasingly screenless is rapidly approaching, and brands must represent themselves without visuals. This requires a shift toward audio-first creative or at least equal amounts of audio and visual. In the same way, brands have spent the last century, creating recognition with visual branding, the immediate point of access for marketers is to be creating the same recognition sonically.”

Advertisers have for decades been honing their skills to attract our visual attention to their messages. However, humans react faster and with more emotion to sound than to visual content. Radio has shown its longevity and its abilities to connect with an audience. Audio in the broader business context is mostly unexplored. Make 2020 the year your business becomes a sonic communicator. 

A seismic shift is coming to how businesses use communications technologies. As the roll-out of 5G accelerates, the internet and the networks it supports will transform as centralised data moves to the edge of the network, creating flexible communications systems with low latency.

The burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) space will also influence how data processing takes place on the edge of networks. Already, ‘edge datacentres’ are being built, delivering efficient services to end-users who are distant from the centralised datacentres. Data processing on the edge of networks will expand to support developing sectors such as autonomous vehicles, for example, that need low-latency communications to ensure they function safely.

Data networks in their current form are highly hierarchical. The expansion of 5G not only delivers new hardware infrastructure, but also a shift to large-scale network function virtualisation (NFV). This is coupled with software defined networks (SDN) that can be used with ‘network slicing’, enabling businesses to divide the 5G network in specialised channels for specific use cases.

Communications services industry body TM Forum explains: “Architecturally, the evolution to 5G may not be as dramatic as some of the other transformations, but when it comes to opportunity, 5G promises to be revolutionary if communications service providers, suppliers, application developers and enterprises can figure out how to co-create, manage and participate in digital ecosystems.”

Speaking to Cloud Pro, Martin Garner, chief operations officer at CCS Insight, says: “The key benefit of 5G is speed and latency. By doing the initial processing of a lot of the data at the edge, decision making can be done more quickly, and at a lower cost. For example, in a processing plant, there are huge benefits from automatically detecting anomalies in real-time.» 

He continues: “An additional benefit comes from the option to process relevant data locally and never allow it to leave the premises. This is true for many healthcare uses, where the information is extremely sensitive for personal reasons, and also for businesses that, for example, do not want to let commercially sensitive production data leave the factory. Some industrial sites even have an ‘air gap’, with no external data connection to the machinery, to ensure that local data stays local.» 

Edge networks will become the fundamental foundation onto which all intensive data processing services will be built.

Computing on the edge

While edge computing offers innumerable benefits, it needs a solid mobile communications infrastructure to support it.

“A fundamental goal of 5G is to enable virtual network slicing, as fully scalable, programmable and flexible networks are the future with 5G,” says Colin Bryce, Director of Mobile Network Engineering at CommScope. 

“Dividing the infrastructure into independent virtual networks enables operators to create an independent standardised layer above the control plane, from which they can deliver proprietary value-added services. Network slicing will be especially important for 5G network success, as mobile network operators seek to find effective solutions to manage spectrum while reducing costs. Virtual networks will allow for tremendous network efficiencies and provide operators.”

In its 2017 “Introduction to Network Slicing”, the GSMA said that slicing could be determined by function or behaviour. For example, in automotive one slice could be dedicated to a high bandwidth connection for delivering infotainment, while another “ultra-reliable” slice would be used for assisted driving

John Vickery, principal technology partner at BT, who explains that the edge could also be closer to home. 

“In an enterprise context where business customers have large quantities of data to process such as HD video, video analytics or machine vision, these requirements can be met by deploying an ‘on-premise’ edge capability at their business location,” he tells Cloud Pro. 

“This allows them to benefit from reduced backhaul costs (since they won’t need to send all their data to the core) and they also get the added benefits of low latency, reliability and data sovereignty. So, any investment in a network edge capability will also need to be balanced against growth in demand for ‘on-premises’ edge.”

How businesses slice up the available 5G network to fuel their needs and how edge computing will factor into their infrastructures remains to be seen. What is clear for all enterprises is the edge offer massive potential to finally use data processing and communications to deliver world-class services.

New data ecosystems

While edge computing using 5G may be something of an emerging technology trend, there are already a number of practical applications and use cases to consider.

In a recent research paper, Julian Bright, senior analyst at Ovum, said: “The incentive for edge computing to be deployed in 5G networks appears to be growing, and it is becoming increasingly important to the 5G business case. The first commercial deployments appear likely to start in 2020 in markets such as South Korea and China with others following soon after. Above all, MEC [Multi-access edge computing] can become a reality, particularly as more commercial 5G deployments begin to appear, services start to bed in, and yet more use cases start to emerge.”

As the infrastructure begins to develop as 5G rolls out, all eyes will turn to the costs of deployment and ongoing development. It’s clear that there is a data and communications imperative no business can ignore. 

In 2019, Barclays Bank conducted a study looking at the benefits and impacts 5G could have on businesses. It found that currently 59% of companies operate across disparate locations and need to communicate in real-time, 49% need to communicate with customers and fill customer orders online, 48% have to connect multiple machines together to run their business, and 43% say that customers expect it.

The report’s authors said that in light of these findings, “it’s obvious that 5G’s projected increase in speed and reliability will greatly benefit british firms. However, factor in the forecasts for future demand for mobile internet, particularly in the context of IoT and issues such as connecting multiple devices and customer expectations leap to the fore”.

This multi-channel approach is how 5G and edge computing services will be built. Once the new communications ecosystem begins to come into focus, more use cases will develop. It’s a heady time, as businesses can see the first signs of the shackles coming off their communications services. The edge could finally deliver the quantum leap in network design and management they have been waiting for.

e-commerce continues to boom. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), show online sales accounted for 18.6% of all retail transactions in 2019. More startling is the growth of mobile channels: WorldPay predicts m-commerce spending will overtake e-commerce by 2023.

For retailers, evolving their business is the key to maintaining market share and nurturing customer loyalty. Research from Mintel published in 2019 is telling: 86% of Brits shop on Amazon, with nearly three-quarters (70%) of them buying something from the site at least once a month. 26% of them also have Prime accounts, giving them access to more and faster delivery options.

Speaking to Cloud Pro, Martin Willetts, technology consulting partner at Deloitte says: “The rate of evolution with consumer behaviours has been difficult for some brands to keep pace with. Those e-commerce organisations that are investing in the flexibility of systems, tools, and processes, are the ones turning the challenge into a real opportunity. 

“The biggest trend is how e-commerce organisations are transforming their capabilities, so they can adapt to support consumer needs while also scaling operations as digital shopping habits continue to proliferate,» Willetts continues. “Also, consumers are increasingly expecting full transparency from brands with regards to both the sustainability and ethical sourcing of products.”

Mobile retail channels will increasingly become the focus for consumers, as they consolidate their use of smartphones. The use of digital kiosks, self-service and cashless checkouts are expanding – all using smartphones as their payment mechanism.

According to a new State of Mobility in Retail Report from enterprise mobility management firm SOTI, 67% of consumers perceive mobile technology as the most effective way to provide a faster shopping experience. Additionally, more than three-quarters (76%) of consumers want in-store staff to use mobile devices to provide a better experience, and nearly one-third (32%) are unwilling to sacrifice personal data security to improve their in-store experience, revealing bold new insights about consumers in the modern retail landscape.

e-commerce is now a multi-channel, multi-touchpoint experience for consumers. They don’t see separate channels, but simply want convenience and speed when they are ready to buy goods and services.

Channel agnostic

The question of whether e-commerce businesses should become ‘mobile-first’ is now moot. The omnichannel has cemented itself as the model e-commerce, and m-commerce is based upon. Indeed, the distinctions are disappearing.

Mobile channels will become increasingly important as a commercial space. Estimates from GSMA suggest over the short term, 1.4 billion people will start using the mobile internet for the first time, bringing the total number of mobile internet subscribers globally to 5 billion. By 2025, the estimated figure rises over 60% of the global population.

“Looking at both commerce channels separately seems counter-intuitive to me,” says Ennis Al-Saiegh, CEO of Smarter Click. “The rise of mobile traffic and ultimately the improved conversion journeys that have had to be improved for this medium, has resulted in improved efficiencies if you treat both channels as a pure ‘commerce’ channel. Treating them as one commerce channel means your brand values, user experience efforts and marketing teams are all aligned to deliver an enhanced experience.”

Deloitte’s Willetts adds: “A ‘Unified Commerce’ approach across physical and digital channels that is modular, flexible and data-driven will be key to ensuring memorable shopping experiences. There is huge potential for retailers to achieve greater value from their marketing spend, seeking to drive customers to the business from any channel to any channel. Again, with a consistent marketing experience regardless of the medium.”

How businesses will construct their e-commerce storefronts is also changing. Headless commerce separates the design of a business’ e-commerce enabled website, with the IT infrastructure that supports it. The practical advantage is the deployment of an e-commerce business can easily be multi-channel. 

Speaking to Cloud Pro, Chris Adriaensen, senior manager of solutions engineering at Auth0, explains: “Headless content is effectively the removal of the end-user interface from backend systems, providing e-commerce solutions as a set of flexible APIs. Front-end developers can take user data and content to create far more dynamic and personalised experiences across different devices and touchpoints. 

“Headless e-commerce allows for more than ‘if you liked these teabags, buy this coffee’ and means content can be delivered in more effective ways, suited to the identity of the user. Power users might get a different experience than first-time buyers, for example. With new tech-driven experiences, such as Amazon Go-style smart stores and AR-powered dressing rooms for clothing still in their early stages, a ‘headless’ approach also facilitates a faster time to market allowing retailers to adapt to new channels, technologies and use cases.”

Consumers want integrated, cross-channel shopping experiences with their purchase journey beginning on one channel and often ending on another – increasingly, their smartphones. Supporting this level of integration is a significant challenge. Here, automation can help and will expand their influence as new services come onstream to help multi-channel retailers deliver their goods to diverse audiences.

New opportunities

According to Statista, 35% of American households have a smart speaker. What’s more, over a quarter, 26% made a purchase using their speaker last year. This rapid expansion of voice commerce is set to continue. 

Data has also become a vital component of successful e-commerce. With masses of information collected about the shopping preferences of individuals, the future of commerce is personal. Brands and retailers that can make personal connections with their customers and deliver new innovative experiences will maintain and expand their market share.

Finding patterns and value in the data being collected will become the province of AI. «Though most e-commerce companies today aren’t using AI in earnest today, we expect this to change rapidly over the next couple of years,” explains Michael Scharff, CEO of AI-powered conversion platform Evolv. “We see AI as a means to an end, not an end itself. e-commerce companies should look to adopt AI to differentiate themselves from the competition, create exceptional omnichannel experiences, and enhance their customer experiences.

Gartner predicts that, in 2020, 85% of customer interactions are managed without human involvement. It’s a trend that has moved at rapid speed. In connection with mobile devices and personal assistants, AI makes a powerful tool for shoppers. Finding products by visual search or making orders via voice assistants becomes hassle-free.

And no retail business can now ignore social media as a commercial channel. According to the most recent “Reimagining Commerce” report from Episerver: “On average, one-fifth of consumers have made purchases directly because of a social media influencer’s product post. Among younger consumers, that number is even higher, with 50% of Gen Z shoppers and 48% of millennials having purchased products either directly by clicking on a post or later on as a result of the influencer’s endorsement.”

Deloitte’s Willetts concludes: «A key technology trend, in response to evolving consumer behaviours, is the need for a flexible and adaptable Commerce platform – with ‘cloud’, ‘headless’ and ‘microservice-based architecture’ often being near the top of business’s requirements list.

“These trends have led both to a resurgence in custom-built e-commerce platforms using smaller ‘lighter’ SaaS vendor’s offerings – as well as some of the larger e-commerce platform vendors re-architecting their platforms regularly to avoid being left behind.”

How consumers connect with the stores they want to buy from will also be transformed as the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G expand and mature. Using the smartphone as the conduit to reach individuals when environments become smart and connection speeds have low latency delivers massive opportunities to all businesses no matter their size.

e-commerce is changing once again. Customer-facing websites and portals will increasingly adopt the headless approach, with the smartphone now the key battleground for consumer spending. Integration is the key to successfully navigating the next stage of e-commerce evolution.

In 2018, Apple CEO, Tim Cook announced the App Store had over 20 million developers, with the App Store itself receiving 500 million weekly visits. The app, it seems, continues to be popular: in the third quarter of 2019, there were a total of 29.6 billion app downloads worldwide, according to market research firm Sensor Tower – a 9.7% year-on-year increase overall, with Google Play downloads growing 11.4% to 21.6 billion and App Store downloads growing 5.3% to 8 billion.

Mobile access to the internet is also growing: According to Ericsson, the total number of mobile subscriptions in Q3 2019 was around eight billion, with 61 million subscriptions added during the quarter. By 2025, 90% of subscriptions are projected to be for mobile broadband.

“Smartphone penetration continues to rise,” says Ericsson. “Subscriptions associated with smartphones account for around 70% of all mobile phone subscriptions. It is estimated there will be 5.6 billion smartphone subscriptions by the end of 2019. The number of smartphone subscriptions is forecast to reach 7.4 billion in 2025.»

With a massive install base of devices, is the app still the best way for businesses to reach this vast mobile audience? Mobile retail continues to expand, as consumers embrace m-commerce as they did e-commerce, with many familiar names profiting from this trend, such as Amazon and eBay, which remain the most popular sites for mobile access.

In its most recent annual ‘Global State of Mobile’ report, Comscore concludes: «Looking at a snapshot of the retail category in the US, retail apps reached 87% of the total app audience in 2019: a 16% increase since June 2017. Total audience tends to skew 25-54 and female. Interestingly, we still see almost a quarter of time spent consuming retail content on desktop, which may be due to the larger screen real estate that can facilitate a closer examination of online purchases.”

In-app purchases continue to be highly prevalent in one specific category of apps: Gaming. Research from Deloitte showed gamers, in general, will spend an average of £3.59 per month, or £43.05 a year, on in-app purchases. This rises to over £120 with the 25 to 34 age group. In-app purchases, though, outside of gaming are also accelerating.  

Consumers increasingly want integrated shopping experiences. Expect in-app purchasing, in general, to accelerate as m-commerce expands. However, care should be taken not to frustrate app users. In research carried out by Kantar Media for Ofcom, one male teen, for instance, told researchers: “I would download a free app and the next thing you know it is 69p to get to such and such a level, even though they said it was free in the first place.”

“Currently, when speaking on omnichannel, we often speak to a presence on each one,” says Sean Farrington, AVP of Interactive Development at LiveArea. «We have a native app, or two. We have a desktop app and also skill on Alexa. Each of these is unique and sadly, almost entirely independent. Technologies, such as PWA (Progressive Web Apps), Service Worker, and Notification APIs supported by personalised content and marketing, will prompt us to redefine our multichannel strategy.”

He adds: “Rather than focusing on a unique presence on each channel, we will begin to see this as a single application, unified across all the channels. This allows us to be more perceptive in how and when we engage with our customers and offers us a whole new world of touchpoints and possibilities. It will also allow us to provide intelligence when choosing the channel to engage upon.”

App fatigue and originality

With the app now over ten years old, are consumers still using the app as their primary channel for accessing services? According to research from Comscore, the answer is yes. In the UK, 86% of mobile minutes are spent using apps. Social media (88%), lifestyle (85%), and coupons and incentive (79%) are the top categories for mobile app usage.

The sheer number of apps available on the app stores has often been pointed to as an issue with regards to discoverability and why the longevity of an app on a user’s phone can be so short. Ofcom’s research suggests consumers are not ready to give up their apps.

“App users appear to have a strong functional reliance and emotional attachment to apps,” the report states. “As part of the research process, participants were asked to live without apps for a day. The absence of apps during this deprivation exercise left many feeling frustrated. Teens and younger adults, in particular, worried about being excluded from their social circle without access to apps.”

To reduce app fatigue and increase install rates, apps need to be useful initially, but the key to long-term connections is to ensure your business’ apps stay engaging and of practical use. Apps that are not updated regularly, don’t communicate with their users via push notifications, and don’t integrate with other areas of your business will be quickly uninstalled.

Speaking to Cloud Pro, Raj Bawa, operations director at JBi Digital says: «I wouldn’t consider app fatigue to be a major challenge for those using the app channel, as apps are there to make life easier for businesses. Apps go a long way in boosting the productivity of businesses, though it’s true there is a level of fatigue from a consumer perspective. To prevent such fatigue from taking place, developers need to consider providing application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow the software to be installed and maintained much more easily.»

If an app is an appropriate component of your business, making it as relevant and engaging as possible will combat app fatigue. Rob Sandbach, managing director at Manchester-based digital design agency Indiespring, says: «It’s a problem if your app performs the same task as a handful of identical apps and it’s an even bigger issue if your app does the same thing, but worse. App fatigue can be easily avoided if your app adds true value to the users’ day and does it better than any competing options out there. It comes down to user experience – you need to be constantly on the ball to protect that by measuring app performance and user engagement.»

An appy future

Analysis by Adjust shows, on average, apps will be deleted around six days after they have been installed. The highest attrition rate is for entertainment and lifestyle apps, with the best performers being in the e-Commerce, travel and health categories. Consumers want apps that not only fulfil an immediate need but that also, continue to be useful.

This approach is supported by Ashley Friedlein, founder of Econsultancy and Guild, who tells Cloud Pro: «Mobile usage is only increasing, as is app usage. It will be hard to break the monopoly of the ‘mega apps’ that take up the most app usage time. However, the success of Snapchat and now TikTok show that it is still possible to create colossal traction very quickly through apps. Alongside the mega apps there is always room for more focused apps that do a particular thing very well.» 

The accelerating development of 5G and its inherent low latency could open a new era for apps that require a constant and fast connection to the mobile internet. Where many apps in the past have been handicapped by low bandwidth, this should disappear if the promises being made for 5G become a reality for every user.

If your business has yet to invest in app development, or you are about to upgrade your existing apps, the Ofcom report offers some insight that can be used to ensure the new apps your company creates will find their audience. 

«App users stated various criteria that they felt described their ‘best apps’, including being quick and easy to use; being reliable and not crashing; performing the functions described, and having appealing aesthetics,” the report states. “When asked to consider criteria for their ‘best apps’, there was little mention of safety and security. These did not appear to be front-of-mind for participants due to a lack of negative experiences with apps.»

Speaking to Cloud Pro, Alex Froom, chief product officer and founder of Zipabout, explains: «Where do we currently stand with the native or web app debate? It’s horses for courses. Unfortunately, it was web-app capabilities that opened app development to organisations lacking the commercial capability to build good apps. The result: an oversaturation of rubbish apps. Rather than focusing on native versus web, what’s more of an issue is the ease of development and whether you need an app at all.»

LiveArea’s Farrington adds: «I think the recognition of the importance of the mobile channel, particularly within m-commerce, has already set upon us. Over the next year or two, I think the focus will be more around how a business can refine their brand, strategy, and marketing efforts to adapt to, and take advantage of, a wide new array of opportunities the channel presents us. Differentiation, amongst competitors on the mobile channel, will become the primary battleground, and it will be won by companies that put themselves in a position to understand their customer regarding their brand.»

From a business perspective, the ‘mobile-first’ approach is now the norm. No matter which category or market your business trades within, having a mobile strategy is critical. Accessing services from fast food delivery to travel, and of course, social media, the app continues to dominate all other access channels.

Since the inception of the cloud, large monolithic infrastructures have been the norm. Azure, AWS and Google Cloud all offer almost infinite scalability and relatively low cost. However, is the dominance of the big three cloud service providers waning?

Businesses have been increasingly creating smaller hybrid cloud structures to meet their needs. By mixing on-prem and larger hosted platforms, they have been afforded greater choice and the ability to develop specific cloud infrastructures.  

However, are we moving into an era where bespoke cloud services become popular, as businesses look to create ‘boutique’ clouds – offering more personalisation and a specific set of features often linked to one service application?

Speaking to IT Pro, Nick McQuire, senior vice president of enterprise research at CCS Insights, says: «The definition of what a boutique cloud is remains open. You could argue, for instance, that a private managed cloud is also a boutique cloud, so I think we need to define what we mean.”

“I think the future of cloud services is a real mix. The hyperscalers will always be there, as will the hybrid cloud infrastructures,” McQuire continues. “Inside of these, we may see more specialised cloud services, which could be described as ‘boutique’ for specialist sectors such as financial services, or to meet specific regulatory requirements.”

The industry is already seeing a move to multi-cloud deployments: Microsoft’s Azure Arc – a rebranding of its Data Box Edge hardware – for example, focuses on the burgeoning IoT and edge computing space and is in public preview. The idea is to bring VMs and containers to any infrastructure no matter irrespective of needs of size. Enterprises with specific requirements for their cloud deployments could create a boutique cloud within the Microsoft environment.

For many industry watchers, the next battle will take place across the multi-cloud, as enterprises continue to focus on building the bespoke services they need. Already the major players are jockeying for position: Microsoft has Azure Arc, Google has debuted Anthos, IBM will run its services on multi-cloud management systems and Cisco has its CloudCenter Suite.

The adoption of cloud services will continue. According to Gartner, by 2022, nearly a third (28%) of spending on essential IT services will shift to the cloud.

Michael Warrilow, research vice president at Gartner, explains: “Cloud shift highlights the appeal of greater flexibility and agility, which is perceived as a benefit of on-demand capacity and pay-as-you-go pricing in cloud.”

Is smaller better? It all depends on the specific business need. What is certain is the cloud environment is rapidly changing. We are moving out of its first phase of development to more refined services and flexible infrastructures.

Compact and bijou

Research from Flexera illustrates how hybrid cloud adoption has expanded, with 84% of enterprises have a multi-cloud strategy. Enterprises with a hybrid approach (combining public and private clouds) grew to 58% last year according to their survey.

Flexera also revealed: “Among enterprises, the central IT team is typically tasked with assembling a hybrid portfolio of clouds. This year, while 31% of enterprises see public cloud as their top priority, a combined 45% of enterprises see a hybrid cloud or a balanced approach between public and private as the biggest focus. Only 9% of enterprises are focusing on building a private cloud, and 6% see their top priority as using a hosted private cloud.”

The multi-cloud and hybrid cloud have continued to expand to become the dominant form of cloud service infrastructure. But as we move closer to real-world deployments of 5G and edge computing, the multi-cloud may change again to become more boutique as services specialise.

CCS Insights’ McQuire explains: “If your business is a complex IT environment, then existing suppliers like IBM and Red Hat, for instance, will be able to offer you the services your business requires. The mix of on-prem and public cloud isn’t going to go away anytime soon. However, what I think we are beginning to see the first green shoots of is the large players pushing into specific industries. IBM last year, for instance, launched a cloud service aimed at the financial sector.”

Commenting on the research hic company conducted with Freeform Dynamics, Hiren Parekh, UK country leader for OVH, adds: “Our results show strong interest in working with specialist cloud providers, with 21% of organisations committed to using providers aligned to specific applications or infrastructure; 18% are committed to using specialist providers focused on particular use cases and 17% are committed to local providers who cover a specific geography. This echoes what we are hearing from our customers, suggesting demand for cloud providers of all sizes and underlining the popularity of the multi-cloud approach.”

A specific need will drive the business case for smaller cloud services. Large cloud deployments can become unwieldy with businesses often feeling they have little control. Hybrid cloud infrastructures have addressed these anxieties to a degree, but we could see more refinement in how companies buy and organise their cloud services over the short term.

A small cloud future

Smaller cloud service providers such as Vultr, Packet, UpCloud and Linode offer compact and specific services, which could define both what the boutique cloud means today and how some cloud services could be bought over the next few years, particularly by smaller businesses.

“I see a cultural shift in risk appetite which we see across the whole spectrum of technology,» says Justin Day, CEO of Cloud Gateway. «Businesses are seeking out smaller cloud service suppliers because they offer better flexibility and more agile working while also being more focused or simply better at delivering more niche services. Because at the end of the day, it’s about allowing businesses of all sizes to get the very best out of their cloud systems and leverage the very best out of those service suppliers.»

Adam Bradley, UK MD of Ekco, believes service levels are pushing companies towards smaller cloud service providers. “I think people are just sick of bad service,” he says. “They are sick of waiting for someone who knows what they are talking about to call them back, and they are tired of having to do all the hard work themselves.”

Cloud services have become somewhat horses for courses. CTOs tasked with adopting an agile cloud-based IT infrastructure have often found themselves managing what could be described as cloud sprawl – running several cloud deployments from several vendors. Businesses are rationalising their use of the cloud.

As cloud services have matured, it has opened the door for smaller service providers who can focus on specific sectors or industries. Building cloud services for these highly defined spaces is a crucial trend through 2020. In the medium term, whether these boutique vendors can remain viable faced with shifts by the large cloud suppliers towards multi-cloud and specialist cloud services, remains to be seen.