In 2022 we witnessed real-time data intelligence platforms emerge as a business requirement, and this trend is likely to continue in 2023. Organisations all over the globe are realising the potential of real-time data and what it can do in terms of improving decision making, inventory management, fraud detection, monitoring core business functions, and more.
According to a January 2022 Mckinsey article, the “data-driven enterprise of 2025” will be characterised by the processing and delivery of data in real-time. Organisations that need to be data-driven and optimally use data to their advantage in the next few years, must be able to harness data in real-time.
As we brace for further economic and political volatility, here are key trends and predictions that could potentially impact the cloud landscape in 2023.
1. A major cloud provider will drop the network egress price and start a new pricing war
The current cloud pricing model is very restrictive and follows an easy-in, hard-to-get-out format due to egress prices. This creates a moat-like structure where everything a business does must occur within one cloud for cost reasons. This pricing structure is setting up for the possibility of a major cloud player to drop price and start a pricing war. This scenario will benefit the business and provide flexibility to cloud strategies; encourage stronger multi-cloud use and lower prices, and exponentially increase the quantity of data in the cloud.
2. The killer app for WASM will surface in 2023
WebAssembly (WASM) data analysis projects will become hot in 2023. Browsers typically run the popular JavaScript language, but WASM allows programs to run in C++, Rust and more, which allows for faster, stronger performance such as 3D CAD. We foresee WASM to pick up speed, with the influx of posts and responses about WASM on New Stack in developer forums. 2023 could very well be the year we see the WASM killer app rise and change the game as we know it.
3. AI and ML workloads running in Kubernetes will overtake non-Kubernetes deployments
AI and ML workloads are picking up steam but the dominant projects are still currently not on Kubernetes. We have seen a shift to adapt Kubernetes to make it more attractive to AL and ML projects and developers. These efforts have also focused on adapting Kubernetes offerings to allow for the compute intensive needs of AI and ML to run on GPUs to maintain quality of service while hosted on Kubernetes.
4. Organisations will be fighting recession by increasing their IT spending
This is a telling datapoint: in a recent survey, organisations that were more concerned about the effects of a possible recession were more likely to be planning bigger IT spending than those who were less concerned. Just 30% of companies with ‘no plans’ to make major preparations for a recession reported that they were getting ready to hike IT spending, in contrast to solid majorities – 68% and 55% – for companies who were already making recession plans or planned to in the near future, respectively. Today’s technology is one of if not the most powerful tool in a company’s toolbox to expand marketshare, reduce costs, or generate new revenue when times are tough. In 2023 we’ll see those who lean into this pull away from those who haven’t.
5. Apps that use data to be smart in real time are the future
In the past, developers were convinced that open source and the cloud would change the way software was built. In our recent 2022 survey, participants indicated that the top three opportunities they ranked as ‘very important’ in their work were remote work options, using real time data, and building AI apps. At organisations that have made a strategic commitment to using real time data, 86 percent of developers agreed that ‘technology is more exciting than ever’; 24 percentage points more than organisations with no real-time deployments. The jury is in among developers that apps that use data to be smart in real time are the future—they are a powerful way to solve problems or delight users.
6. Clarity of mission will help open-source based disruptors compete with hyperscalers like AWS
Open source businesses will have a core set of customers who are strategically committed to both the project and a multi-cloud posture. By serving them well, and building intimacy with the project community, you will earn pole position on how to enable developers and organisations to make the most of the technology. By deploying a ‘cloud first’ architecture, you open the door to a broader set of customers who intentionally lean in to ‘best of breed.’ And this is where work really starts: because the task isn’t to simply run a bunch of Apache-licensed code, but to use the scope, scale, and depth of data. This enables cloud-based players to be a steward, and an innovator enabling the current and prospective users to solve more problems, in more ways through business products and the whole OSS ecosystem. That clarity of mission – that no hyperscaler will ever have – is how you attract partners and employees, not just customers.
