Adrian Moir, a Lead Technology Evangelist at Quest Software:
“In 2021, we’ll see the continuation of the shift from data centres to the collaborative cloud. The cloud enables simplified collaboration and is more accessible to a broader set of people within an organisation. However, alongside this shift, organisations will need to reassess how they secure and protect the data that no longer resides in a data centre. As we move forward protecting those cloud collaborative technologies will be just as important. Expect organisations to leverage the tools in more constructive ways than just for communication. There will be expectations set on using these technologies as a core part of a business, and as such, protecting the content will become even more important.”
Tim Fritz, Product Marketing Manager:
“Hybrid cloud cost control will be critical for every head of IT in 2021. This is not a new concept, cost control, but a challenge that has shifting solutions for every CIO and VP of IT as hybrid cloud propagates within their organisations. Workloads are being shifted to cloud with increasing regularity, and many clouds rather than one. Cloud-first strategy no longer means that on-premises is ignored, but the strategy calls for the “right” cloud being chosen if there is any choice in the matter. The resulting hybrid environments can successfully deliver on their promises of high service delivery and lower costs. However, the lower costs don’t just mean the lack of owned hardware. To lower costs from traditional infrastructure costs means ensuring that one is paying for only the processing power and storage that is actually required. Waste and surprises of higher than anticipated cloud costs must be minimised in environments where complexity reigns and expectations are enormous.”
Venkat Rajaji, Vice President Product Management:
“As companies develop more robust work from home strategies and policies, the need for captive real estate and the data centre is quickly diminishing. In the race to adopt the cloud, people will need better tools to give them visibility and optimisation to maximise the performance of costs of these workloads without carelessly overspending. Next year we’ll see business focus on moving out of the data centre and centring their cloud strategies.”