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As cloud computing has become essential to business, the cloud industry has experienced rapid growth in recent years, and it won’t stagnate any time soon. According to MarketsandMarkets, the worldwide cloud computing market will more than double between 2018 and 2023. Increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18 percent, the market is projected to grow from $272 billion to around $623 billion in just this short period of time.

Fueling this accelerated market growth are the numerous developments in cloud computing that fuel its advancement year after year. In 2019, cloud users will notice several new trends that will redefine how they use the cloud and improve their overall experience with it. 

Here are some cloud trends you should know about as we progress further into 2019.

Cloud services will surge

In recent years, cloud services have grown exponentially, and they will continue to thrive throughout 2019. Research from Bain & Company recognized a similar growth trend for SaaS, estimating a CAGR of 18 percent from 2015 through 2020.

However, SaaS isn’t the only cloud service that will be experiencing growth in 2019. Platform as a service (PaaS) is seeing the greatest increase in rates of adoption, with a 24 percent surge in investment between 2016 and 2019 by major companies with IT budgets greater than $250 million. In addition, serverless computing is seeing the biggest year-on-year growth. Between 2018 and 2019 alone, RightScale found that serverless adoption rose by a staggering 50 percent.

Evolution of multi-cloud models

The year 2018 saw one of the most significant trends in cloud computing: the multi-cloud model, which refers to the use of multiple cloud computing and storage services at once. A multi-cloud model allows organizations to pick and choose their cloud services from an array of vendors. For example, an organization might choose several different software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors for various applications, or multiple infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) providers to run different workloads. However, most organizations are still refining their multi-cloud strategy.

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Over the course of 2019, we will likely see the multi-cloud approach evolve and mature. According to RightScale, 84 percent of enterprises rely on a multi-cloud strategy. On average, each organization uses about five clouds. However, the majority of these users adopted the multi-cloud without a clear strategy at the outset.

In 2019, multi-cloud users will likely improve their approach and develop more sophisticated models for success in the cloud. More organizations will similarly look to the multi-cloud as a means of reducing costs, improving performance, and meeting other pressing IT needs.

More users will rely on the hybrid cloud

Just as organizations are starting to adopt more sophisticated multi-cloud models, an increasing number of organizations will turn their gaze to the hybrid cloud: the use of public and private clouds with orchestration between both. In fact, between 2018 and 2019, the percentage of enterprises with a hybrid strategy increased from 51 to 58 percent. Concurrently, organizations that employ multiple private or multiple public clouds fell.

This trend marks a departure from the “one-cloud-fits-all” attitude of previous years. Organizations can no longer afford to put all their eggs in one basket and rely solely on public clouds or solely on private clouds. Many cloud adopters already find the transition between on-premises and cloud environments difficult, and the hybrid cloud can alleviate some of the challenges of cloud migration. With a blend of public and private infrastructure, more organizations can migrate at their own pace and ensure more seamless digital transformations.

Open source technologies will expand

Open source technology has already become the favorite among cloud users who are looking to avoid becoming locked in to a single vendor. In 2019, open source cloud tech will only continue to advance, giving businesses more opportunities to streamline the management of their cloud platforms.

Some cloud experts predict that Kubernetes, a container management system, will have a particularly large role in the growth of open source technologies in 2019. The technology facilitates containerization and automation, which is extremely helpful in deploying multi-cloud and hybrid cloud models. 

Difficulties with GDPR compliance

The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) launched in the EU in 2018, bringing much confusion about how organizations will maintain compliance with these new standards. These issues won’t be going away in 2019 and may persist through 2020 and beyond.

This year, an increasing number of organizations must undertake the onerous task of identifying and rectifying any security deficiencies that are hindering their GDPR compliance. These challenges will only compound as new adopters continue to flock to the cloud in an effort to transform their digital landscapes.

Many experienced users and new adopters alike do not fully understand the GDPR security requirements they need to meet. In fact, many don’t even know the precise effects this new regulation will have on cloud services. With less comprehension of GDPR and how to achieve compliance, cybersecurity threats may become more pronounced until EU-based companies can get a firmer handle on their data practices.