Introduction
我们经常遇到这样的短语:The Future is Cloud’, ‘Cloud-First’ strategy, or the ‘Future is Cloud-Connected’ etc. What do these phrases mean, 我们真的已经乘着云波到达了未来吗, as it were, 或者，我们离生活中无处不在的乌云还有一段距离吗? We shall briefly discuss the all round adoption of the Cloud and its impact on businesses.
Global Cloud Computing Market
随着企业的发展和业务的改进, 在2019冠状病毒病大流行造成混乱之后, 云计算已经成为日常运营和帮助的首选工具 Pivot themselves into the new normal. It’s an undeniable fact that COVID-19 has played a catalyst role in the adoption of cloud computing across the business world, regardless of size, complexity and location. In fact, 这场大流行已经成为云计算的“增长hack”, 加快迁移，实现数字化转型, ahead of track. In fact, in every estimate, the pandemic is seen as having accelerated the move towards digital transformation aided by cloud computing. 微软首席执行官萨蒂亚·纳德拉认为，两年的时间 digital transformation 在短短2个月的时间里就取得了成果. Gartner predicts that the surge in cloud adoption owing to the pandemic is going to last till at least 2024.
Forrester Research 预计全球云计算市场将从371美元增长.4bn in 2020 to US$832.到2025年将达到10亿美元，以19年复合年增长率增长.5%. On the other hand, 到2021年，全球公共云基础设施市场将增长35%，达到1200亿美元. Top global cloud providers AWS, Azure, and Alibaba and Google are the leading revenue-generating companies that are expected to make the most of this new thrust.
Cloud-First Strategy
While pre-pandemic, 许多组织认为“云端就绪”是一件好事, the global disruptions in almost every in-person activity across sectors have made them rethink and re-evaluate their options. In this context, 以云为中心的业务操作方法, “云优先”战略已成为新常态. 在2020年第三季度，埃森哲成立 Accenture Cloud First and is further planning to invest US$3bn in the next three years to move its clients across industries to the Cloud and put them on the path of Digital Transformation. According to the company, its 100,000 cloud professionals 会帮助他们的客户塑造, hauling, building, 并在云端运营他们的业务，帮助他们实现业务价值, speed/agility, cost, talent, and innovation benefits.
埃森哲是已经拥挤的云计算市场的最新进入者, 在COVID-19期间加速了, 再加上公司削减成本的动力. Many other leading companies are planning to assist their clients in their respective cloud journeys, 特别是当云不再是一个“选项”的时候. In 2013, the UK Government had announced its Cloud-First policy, a flagship technology policy. This involved all the public departments to evaluate moving to the cloud first before opting for other alternatives. UK Government had spent billions in the public cloud by engaging in contracts with AWS、微软和谷歌在“云优先”项目上取得成功. In the future, the UK Government is committed to a Cloud-First strategy and might increase its spending on cloud computing.
一些分析人士说，今天的讨论不应该是“云优先”, rather it should be on ‘Cloud Now’.
Cloud – Basic Requirement for A Business
As we are witnessing a tremendous uptake in Cloud adoption by businesses due to the COVID-19, the future might just turn out to be that the cloud is THE fundamental requirement to run a business. According to the study conducted by Flexera, in 2021, 99% of respondents are using 至少有一个公共或私有云. 97% of respondents utilize at least one public cloud, while 80% have at least one private cloud. 78% of the respondents are using the hybrid cloud.
此外，该报告指出，任何组织使用的平均值为2.6 public and 2.7 private clouds. Companies experiment with public and private clouds before finally choosing one that suits them (on an average, an organization experiments with 1.1 public cloud and 2.2 private cloud). Therefore, cloud service providers need to offer a limited/trial version of their services to potential customers before opting for their preferred vendor choice.
- 公共云——未来的首选
公有云一直是全球企业的理想选择. 公共云的实施预计将进一步上升，因为许多公司, especially the first-time users, and small and medium businesses, opt for public cloud services. During the first half of 2020, organizations of all sizes have increased their spending on public cloud services due to the sudden shift of work-from-office to remote work. According to Flexera’s study, 公共云支出已经是IT预算中最重要的支出之一, especially for large organizations.
In 2020, just over one out of ten companies (16%) spent over US$1mnper month on the public cloud. But, in 2021, three out of ten companies (31%) had spent over a million dollars per month on public cloud, 预计这一数字在covid -19后时期将进一步上升. On the other hand, 十家公司中有七家(76%)至少花费了100美元,000 per month on the public cloud.
- Implementation of Cloud
向云的过渡一直是人们热议的话题, the arguments bordering on whether smaller companies need a “Cloud First” approach or how to architect the move to the cloud, 或者围绕现有遗留系统的问题，甚至是对更改的抵制. However, with the pandemic still raging, 争论的焦点已经转移到如何快速推进即将到来的向云计算的过渡. 当谈到实现云计算时, by 2022, 91%的IT公司将进入云计算领域, 预计未来还会上升, followed by the Aviation, Travel & Tourism (79%), and Oil & Gas (78%) sectors. Among the leading sectors, Aviation, Travel, 旅游业面临着巨大的技能转换挑战, with 68% of personnel in these sectors expecting some length of training to adapt to cloud computing and other emerging technologies. For IT companies, the advancement in cloud computing ranks as the second-highest trend in driving industry growth.
According to McAfee, 到2021年，英国40%的大公司将是纯云计算公司, 预计未来会上升到71%. However, a smaller but still significant percentage (14%) of senior IT staff working within the UK don’t believe they will become a cloud-first business anytime soon. A few of those say they don’t think there is any business desire to transition to a cloud-first company.
Cloud Computing – Talent Crunch
上面提到的关于迁移到云的所有讨论点, 一个潜在的方面贯穿了各个国家, regions, industry verticals etc; i,E云计算技术资源的明显短缺. 如果全球趋势是可信的, In the next three years (2021-24), cloud computing will be a strategic driver of new business models to which businesses must adapt to. 据世界经济论坛(World Economic Forum)的《the Future of Jobs Report，到2022年，四分之三(72%)的企业可能会采用云计算. However, there is one fundamental problem that companies are facing – the lack of skills in the jobs market. As mentioned earlier, during the COVID-19 pandemic, 越来越多的公司正在转向云计算, 由于供不应求，熟练的专业人员严重短缺. According to the survey ‘2020 – Challenges in Cloud transformation’, most respondents (86%) believe that talent shortage will continue to slow down cloud implementation across the organizations.
In the United States, tech giants such as Facebook, Amazon, 谷歌通过提供有吸引力的服务，造成了人才短缺, 与学术界相比，极具竞争力的福利待遇. Despite all the difficulties, 如果一个组织还能找到人才, 外部驱动因素，如快速云创新, new business pressures, competition and the need to evolve continuously have made the ability to keep that talent relevant over time an impractical reality. Recent statistics show that 63% of US organizations anticipate the IT skills gap to widen, 59%的人认为未来两年(2022-23)人才短缺还会继续。.
In reality, 云计算技能的短缺正逐年增加, and companies face difficulty finding skilled cloud professionals using traditional recruitment and sourcing methods. Three out of four HR practitioners mention that they are facing trouble in solving the skill gap, and this will be a severe problem for companies if they do not invest and build a talent pipeline and source the candidates for future job openings.
Cloud Skill Development
But IT companies do have an option to overcome this challenge by employing IT training organizations that can find suitable employees in the first place and train them to become cloud professionals. The IT training organizations then move to create a digital hub and develop a culture that encourages employees to learn cloud and digital skills. However, 当谈到向员工传授云技术时, the majority of companies do not have in-house talent and do need to depend on external training organizations, 哪些可以增加他们的训练 & development budgets. Also, in the majority of cases it may be out of reach for smaller and medium-sized firms to replicate the success of large IT players in this regard owing to lack of resources and budgets.
Conclusion
Cloud computing professionals do not have shortage of options as the demand is outpacing their supply across industries. 大部分人才都集中在大城市周围, 农村和城市市场之间存在着巨大的差距, 这将是一个长期现象. However, forced by the pandemic, 允许员工远程工作的公司, may have a ray of hope. Now companies can find candidates from across the world to get their job done but will still need to pay a premium salary to find the right talent.
In short, 云技术差距在未来将继续存在, 在相当长的一段时间内，需求将超过供应. 如果公司想让他们的人才在公司呆上一段时间, 只提供有竞争力的薪水是行不通的，因为他们需要提供其他福利, 灵活性和建立一个繁荣的文化. 否则，员工们就会另谋高就.