Let us see which cloud computing trends will be seen in 2020, and also, let us evaluate which predictions will cement the future of this industry further.

1. More data centers
Data center expansion has been on the horizon of many business heads simply for the reason that expanding their reach to other cities or countries gives them a local advantage and helps them deal with latency issues of data networks. Alibaba Cloud’s entry in India was one such strategic move that was geared towards giving a better service to their Indian customers and expanding their business horizon in the same region. Banks and financial institutions are comfortable with providing real estate capital to cloud providers who seek to build more data centers because of the ROI this industry has given over the years. Which is why it is safe to say that this trend will continue and probably be the top trend for 2018 as well.

2. Acquisitions and consolidations
There are moves with intent, and then there are moves which are intense. The number of strategic moves done by AWS, Google, Microsoft are quite a few in this calendar year. But, number hasn’t always been a measure of profitability. Many organizations made a move with an intent to grab a larger chunk of the market. But, some moves made a lot of difference. Like Microsoft’s acquisition of Cycle Computing which gave the former’s customers a benefit of computing ‘big data jobs’. This move was surely intense since Microsoft swept this deal right under the noses of their competitors with a strong pursuit strategy.

3. More innovative products on the shelf
The cloud industry has been brave with the products that they have launched this year. That is because innovation collectively has been a key ingredient to their product mix apart from filling the need gap for their customers. Datrium’s Cloud DVX, Microsoft’s Azure stack for Indian SMEs, SIMA Solution’s IBM integrated SIMA Cloud are some products that can be named as we speak of innovation.

The birth of these products has been mostly because challenging situations were thrown at the parent organizations by their customers when it came to satisfaction and user experience of the product. This shows that customers really are looking for newer solutions that cater to their needs when it comes to cloud. Definitely a trend that we will continue to see next year. What a simplified cloud could look like for the average SMB who is looking for web hosting must definitely check out ResellerClub’s hosting plans.

4. Rise and rise of IoT
Connected devices are the future. Today, more or less with all the devices like watches, cars, home appliances and laptops being integrated together, storing data on the cloud has become imperative. The IoT (Internet of Things) industry has also seen a positive demand-supply with growing awareness of consumers towards integrated services. IoT provides minute behavioural insights to businesses and helps them learn more about consumers. With this data, a business can build relevant customer experiences with the help of automation and smart tools.

5. Container systems to prevail
Cloud industry relationship with container management systems is nothing less than blooming. They give developers the freedom to create measurable and predictable environments that work in silos. They run almost anywhere and provide the same benefit all over. With respect to cloud, their role of enabling developers build, store, run and orchestrate production has made them popular with decision-makers and developers alike. Hence, the cloud hosting provider advocates container management systems to business who have an in-house tech team.

Kubernetes has emerged as a favourite for many big guns including Google, Oracle and others. It would hardly take time for smaller enterprises to lap it up. A trend that will evolve in 2018 we say.

Since the advent of internet technology, enterprises are continually dealing with increasing workloads or what is commonly known as the ‘big data’. Managing workloads include the proper alignment of company data, resources and targeting them towards desired business outcomes.

With the IT industry facing issues with digital transformation like transitioning from hardware or software solutions to as-a-service cloud solutions, they need help in selecting the right technology stack, its implementation and support to ease their transition. Here, the role of Managed Services Provider comes in.

What are managed services?
Under Managed Services, the users make use of application or resources that are completely managed by a third party i.e. a managed service provider. The MSPs allow users to outsource their various network and application needs with complete support. The applications are hosted and managed by the managed service provider only.

Role of Managed Services Provider
Hosting and managed service providers play an active role when it comes to helping enterprises evaluate right digital transformation strategies, migrate workloads, managing networks and infrastructure, backed with securing data and applications.

There presents a vast set of opportunities for managed service providers with increasing application and infrastructure migration from on-premises to cloud.

Latest trends in managed services and web hosting industry
Following are the managed services trends and web hosting industry trends that will provide a guide to market opportunities for providers of these services:

1) Increasing Web Hosting and Cloud computing trends
The enterprises will continue their shift towards Hosting and Cloud Services. A report by 451 Research (451 Global Digital Infrastructure Alliance) found that 53% of the survey respondents expect to see high spending on web hosting and cloud in the coming 90 days while, only 3% expected a decrease.
Amongst this, SaaS and application hosting will incur major area of spending (51%), followed by infrastructure services (29%) and managed services (10%).

It will be a golden opportunity for the managed service providers, as the report also stated that users of SaaS and application hosting services will spend 59% on managed services.

2) Infrastructure monitoring and alerting is the most used managed service
The 451 Research report suggested that the infrastructure/application monitoring and alerting services will be the most used managed service, accounting for 53%. It will be followed by other managed services like Backup and Recovery (49%) and Disaster Recovery (41%).

3) Growth in channel partner MSPs and M&As
MSPs will see a rise in the number of customers who look for complete technical support and migration apart from the basic implementation services.

Some may even start running partner programs for their resellers to help them manage the end customers. This will help MSPs reach the market faster.

SMB customers prefer a unified provider of services, hence Managed Services’ industry is witnessing an increasing number of M&As (Mergers and Acquisitions).

For this, the service providers need to re-align every business process and evaluate resources, lines of business, system integrations, brand value proposition etc. Both organizations need to ensure their financial health and capacity before getting into any M&A activity.

4) Bundled IT solutions’ trend
Rise of new, innovative services in the cloud and hosting will be a normal affair. To accommodate all these services in a unified offering, MSPs have started offering bundled solutions.

In the coming years, too, bundled solutions will be a good way to upsell and cross-sell services. This is because they stand as enterprise-wide solutions, fulfilling all requirements at one place – a win-win solution for the end customer and the seller.

5) Shifting focus on hybrid and multi-cloud management services
Earlier, enterprises went either to a privately hosted solution or a public cloud, but now they want to make use of mixed benefits of both, through hybrid cloud.

Gartner predicts that by 2020, 90 percent of organizations will adopt hybrid infrastructure management capabilities.

The rise in the hybrid cloud adoption is making MSPs shift their focus towards the flexibility and versatility of hybrid cloud solutions.

Conclusion:
These are the latest managed services trends and web hosting industry trends. These trends are the results of emerging technologies and customer demand changes in the market.

To succeed and thrive in this era of cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), AI, cybersecurity and always-on access to apps and data, MSPs need to identify trends faster and grab the opportunity before their competitors do.

WordPress has been democratizing the web for over fifteen years now. It delivers the most flexible blogging experience and it is so easy to learn that even a beginner can work on it.

Released in 2003, WordPress is the website content management system (CMS) which powers over 30 percent of the entire web. It provides access to thousands of free plugins and themes, using which you can design your website and add powerful features.

If you use WordPress for some hobby, then the free account is fine for you. But if you have an established website, and have regular heavy traffic, then you may face some downtime. Also, the webpages will take long to load.

Since you need to ensure a lot of things to keep your website running, including the content, design, social media, marketing, and a lot more things, WordPress management may become cumbersome in the long run. But you need not worry. To overcome these challenges, many hosting providers now provide managed WordPress hosting.

What is managed WordPress hosting?
As the name suggests, it is specifically designed and optimized for WordPress, where all technicalities are managed by the hosting provider. It is a perfect solution for you if you want simplicity, flexibility and power of the fastest WordPress hosting.

The host will manage all the technical aspects like backups, security, WordPress updates, speed, etc. This enables you to focus on running your business rather than getting trapped in management hassles.

With managed WordPress hosting, you also get very tight security for your site with tools and software that scan for malware, phishing attempts and block all other attempts to hacking.

With fully managed WordPress hosting, you can build, edit, and manage your site easily, and run it seamlessly right from the moment you log in. Management is integrated with your hosting account, and trained team of Sysadmins helps accelerate your site speed and secure it.

Let’s take an example to understand it better. Suppose, you are participating in some car race with your everyday compact family sedan. If you have watched The Fast and The Furious, you probably know what level of preparation your car will need to be able to compete or in a movie-inspired scenario, win the race.

You have to take help from car racing experts to increase the engine power, change the tyres, tune the gearbox or other nitty-gritty racing lovers must be aware of. So, at the end of the day, you still have your compact sedan only, but with the help of experts, you have worked on it to maximize the performance. To some extent, managed WordPress hosting is the same.