Recently, our friends over at CircleID published an article titled “7 Major Current Trends in Cloud Computing”. The article, written by John Grady, covers IT topics from Hybrid Clouds, to Big Data Analytics, to BYOD and Graphics as a Service (GaaS?). While we tend to agree with the core concept of the post, the truth is some of the mentioned Cloud trends are incorrect. Here’s why:
1. BYOD, Bring Your Own Device
BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device, is the business Cloud trend which allows company employees to bring their own smart devices to work. Through these devices, company employees can access corporate applications, email servers and other mobile apps while still being able to conduct daily personal affairs. BYOD allows for the mix of personal and corporate without the corporate financial burden of supplying employees with corporate devices.
On the other hand, BYOD poses a significant threat to corporate security. With more and more devices being connected to the corporate infrastructures, companies need to arm themselves against various types of mobile threats, security concerns and data leaks. For this reason, BYOD is giving way to CYOD. CYOD, or Choose Your Own Device, allows companies to provide pre-approved devices to company employees for work use while also allowing company employees to choose the device they want. It should be noted, while CYOD is more expensive to the corporate bottom line, it also poses much less of a security concern than the BYOD does.
2. Big Data Analytics and the Cloud
Mr. Grady of CircleID smartly points out the use of Big Data services combined with the use of Cloud hosting solutions are helping to empower businesses in every facet of their operating strategies. While we aren’t going to challenge the assumption of Big Data plus Cloud services are making companies stronger, we will say Big Data plus Cloud services aren’t enough to fuel the future of IT. For that, Big Data and Cloud Computing applications need to sync with Internet of Things devices.
More than any other IT solution, the Internet of Things (sometimes called the Net of Everything or Connected Devices), allows for real world machines to provide instant real world data to consumers and businesses alike. In combination with Big Data and Cloud services, the Internet of Things carries with it the possibility of fully altering the way which society operates. As we have noted in this space before, for the Cloud to survive, it needs both Big Data and the Net of Everything.
3. Hybrid Clouds and Security
CircleID smartly notes:
“There has been an ongoing debate between the merits of public and private cloud models for quite some time now… Security has always been a major concern with cloud computing. As more businesses move more information and data into cloud servers, this concern is more important than ever.”
We couldn’t agree more with this sentiment. “As more businesses move more information and data into Cloud servers, this concern is more important than ever.” For this reason, as much as we agree with the sentiment that Hybrid Clouds are taking over the corporate Cloud Computing space, we also believe for personal security, personal private Clouds, are the way of the future. With great personal Clouds supplied by companies like Western Digital (My Cloud), consumers now have the chance to utilize their own personal and secure Cloud solution without having to worry about the uploaded data leaking out to the open Internet.
So Hybrid Clouds? Yes. Cloud Security? Absolutely. Personal private Clouds? They are the way o the future.
In closing, we want to say our hats off to Mr. Grady and CircleID for a great article on Cloud trends. We think we can all agree, while CircleID hit on some great points, current Cloud trends will continue to grow and morph with every passing day.