Cloud usage doesn’t slow downbut that doesn’t mean 2023 will be an easy year for users of on-demand computing services.
According to a recent report by technology analyst Gartner, worldwide consumer spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 20.7% to $591.8 billion by 2023. , up from $490.3 billion in 2022. That compares to an 18.8% growth forecast for 2022.
Meanwhile, the consultant KPMG’s 2022 Global Technology Report shows that nine out of 10 businesses consider their adoption of cloud systems ‘advanced’, and nearly three-quarters (73%) are in the process of migrating strategic workloads to the cloud. Cloud computing is now considered the basic technology pillar of many businesses.
Lisa Heneghan, Global Head of Digital at KPMG International, says this shift presents significant opportunities for software engineers, data scientists and other skilled tech workers over the next 12 months and beyond, no matter what happens in the economy.
“The high degree of interdependence between new data technologies – such as machine learning or natural language processing – and cloud platforms is especially challenging for legacy technology organizations, ” Heneghan told ZDNET.
The technical knowledge needed to support rapid cloud adoption is something hiring managers need to think about as they head into 2023 – especially as legacy systems expire and new platforms emerge. and currently connected to each other.
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Companies may have difficulty when upskill existing enterprise application teams, said Heneghan. Instead, they may need to find what she calls “brand new” hard-to-hire talent pools. That’s perhaps no surprise: according to KPMG’s Global Technology Report, talent shortages remain the number one barrier for organizations to adopt digital technology.
The lack of cybersecurity staff – is facing the dual challenge of extreme demand and high rates stress and attrition related to burnout – has become particularly severe over the past year.
This is because IT and business leaders seem to finally wake up to reality that cybersecurity needs to be built into every business decision, especially now that most of their day-to-day work is being done off-premises by distributed teams.
Malware and ransomware continue to evolve and New techniques and attack vectors identified by hackers, companies will see every inch of their IT defenses poked and probed by malicious actors.
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“Wherever the data goes, the bad guys are bound to follow,” said David Hewitt, director of cloud platforms at IBM.
Hewitt says that the rise of hybrid cloud has posed specific challenges to security because create more potential entry points against malware and similar threats. “As digital infrastructure becomes more complex, businesses need to avoid falling victim to the ‘Frankencloud’ – an environment that is difficult to navigate and nearly impossible to secure,” Hewitt told ZDNET.
Hewitt said third- and fourth-party dependencies in cloud services are creating additional vulnerabilities and “blind spots” that can be exploited by hackers. He warned that These need to be identified and addressed before they turn into a big and unmanageable problem.
“As organizations adopt a hybrid cloud approach, they must stay vigilant. By ensuring that they have a holistic approach to security and a clear view of the data that resides across the board. With their hybrid cloud infrastructure, organizations can better hedge against risk.”
Proper risk management will require an empowered IT leader who has a say in strategic decision-making processes – which you can take for granted, but continues to be a complaint among tech leaders.
Hewitt says that leaders need to make architectural decisions based on what environment and type of infrastructure is best for them, rather than a “rip and replace” approach. “When done appropriately, the benefits of modernization can lead to agility, security, on-demand scalability, and cost savings over time,” he said.
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But even the cloud is invulnerable to the impact of a recession. Gartner expects that cloud application infrastructure services (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) will experience the most significant impact from inflation over the next 12 months; again, this is partly due to staffing challenges. “Higher-paid and more skilled employees are required to develop modern SaaS applications, so organizations will be challenged as hiring declines to control costs.” Sid Nag wroteVice President of Analytics at Gartner.
“Organizations can only spend what they have. Cloud spending could decline if overall IT budgets shrink, as the cloud continues to be the largest share of IT spending and budget growth is comparable. worthy.”
Even so, the outlook for cloud and other professionals in 2023 remains upbeat for now.
“As businesses continue to realize the value and necessity of investing in the cloud, jobs in this sector are projected to be as resilient to recession as any public job,” said Heneghan. important technology by 2023.
“For businesses, it means [positioning] themselves as attractive workplaces, clearly identifying and communicating the development opportunities and benefits available. “
