In the pre-pandemic world, many factors, including the unavoidable need for digital transformation, were fueling the transition to the cloud. And the COVID-19 crisis has only accelerated this transition. A report revealed that cloud spending has risen to a whopping $29 billion in the first quarter of 2020. This trend will only strengthen as the global workforce is moving from the physical world to the virtual one.

According to Gartner, in spite of the economic downturn that has come hot on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, cloud spending is expected to rise. The aggressive demand for cloud-based business architectures is all set to rise in the future; this demand will generally come from top industries such as chemicals, automobiles, food and beverages, finance, pharmaceuticals, and more.

In this piece, we will analyze how COVID-19 is transforming cloud computing. We will explain two cloud-computing trends that have evolved in the wake of the pandemic. Knowing about these trends will empower enterprises to get cloud-ready. This way, businesses will embrace the cloud for serving their customers in a world that is radically shifting to a virtual, always-on business landscape.

Embracing the OPEX model

Before the pandemic, buyers of technology infrastructures were looking for a way of transitioning to a variable cost model for augmenting their networking, storage, and core computing capabilities. Enterprises are still looking for a cloud-enabled offering that would work on a pay-as-you-go model for accelerating the pace of this transition.

The COVID-19 crisis has only underscored this preference of adopting an OPEX solution instead of a CAPEX one. A survey showed that a large number of finance leaders claim that they are already planning to build an agile business ecosystem moving forward; this all-new cloud is expected to be more scalable and will also enable next-gen business agility.

Building a hybrid cloud ecosystem

Today, enterprises face a severe requirement that will not be met alone with a conventional data center. Instead, businesses are now looking forward to embracing a mix of cloud-enabled technology and intelligence tools. With the mix of different cloud technologies and tools, businesses are ready to uncover exciting growth opportunities.

To sustain the market share and make fresh inroads into accomplishing new gains, tech infrastructure enterprises should provide better management, connectivity, security, and orchestration. This way, customers will effectively operate and serve their clients in a hybrid cloud architecture.

The way forward

In the coming time, cloud spending and adoption will continue to rise. The demand for cloud-based OPEX models and hybrid cloud ecosystems will be intensified chiefly because of some industries. You have to figure out whether your business requires looking at the cloud through a fresh lens. With a fresh perspective on the cloud, your business will serve its customers better and grow faster in a world that stands disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.