As we rapidly approach wrapping up (in all senses) for Christmas while navigating an assortment of strikes and snowstorms many of us will already be casting a slightly wary eye towards 2023. After years of the pandemic followed by the double whammy of the energy and cost of living crises it’s quite understandable to be cautiously wondering “What next?” when thinking about the next twelve months. Fortunately tech predictions might prove a safer bet, with certain trends such as hybrid working, the need to evolve networking skills, cybersecurity (of course) and, perhaps most notably, cloud migration looking certain to accelerate in the new year.

“One trend we have seen develop in recent years that shows no signs of slowing is SMEs moving more of their work, services, and processes into the public cloud,” comments Colin Blumenthal, Vice President, IT Services, Sharp Europe. “Already over 40% of EU organisations use public cloud services in some form, mostly for hosting their email systems and storing files in electronic form. This is a trend we shall continue to see steadily rise. especially the move to Microsoft 365 public cloud, which for the SMEs is by far the dominant player in the market.” Network management will increasingly move to the cloud too, with a new LANCOM Systems survey on network management trends in the DACH region finding that 21 percent of the IT managers surveyed already rely on a pure cloud-based solution for network management - with 85 percent planning to move over to the cloud in the coming four years.

“Cloud computing will be near the top of the priority list for IT teams next year,” according to Tom Archer, Regional Sales Manager - UK, Nerdio. “Whilst it is an investment, it’s a flexible one that can change with the business. In the current economic climate, companies are moving towards more service-based costs, and public cloud providers can facilitate cost efficiencies as they often offer a ‘pay for what you need’ monthly model. We expect the move from private cloud to public cloud to continue at pace - with the large providers on the public side having a greater ability to weather energy price pressures and deal with evolving security threats. With a younger workforce, cloud is here to stay. Employees are now demanding the latest tools and technology and legacy, slow on-premise solutions are no longer fit for purpose.”

The need to move away from legacy systems by modernising an organisation’s IT estate is also the subject of an opinion piece by Mat Clothier, CEO and Founder at Cloudhouse in this issue. Read Mat’s article to learn why monitoring may hold the key to maintaining and improving a successful business in 2023 and beyond.

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