The existence, continuous evolution, and constant advancement of Cloud computing have been, are, and will be trends for many years. For a simple reason – it's a general problem solver. Whether the issue is lowering the overall cost of IT infrastructure and/or IT staff within an organization, addressing the low reliability, stability, and/or security of locally hosted IT infrastructure, or simply reducing worries, the Cloud can provide solutions.

And we're not just talking about the major public Cloud hosting providers now in the game, but also about private, hybrid, and federated Clouds. They all exist and will continue to exist for the same reason – they solve problems.

Digging deeper into the topic, you'll encounter Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service Cloud types/categories, each serving as a more specific type of problem solver. In other words, they are tailored solutions for specific problems.

Of course, on the other side of the coin, the classic "on-prem" locally hosted IT infrastructure and software/services versus all of the above are still in use, albeit in continuous decline, primarily addressing the issue of how much control someone wants and/or needs over it. But, that's a topic (though interesting) for another day.

Returning to the Cloud topic and keeping with the trends, it's interesting to explore or understand the currently envisioned Cloud trends, such as "AI as a Service," "Real-Time Cloud Infrastructure," "Simplified Cloud Computing," "Cloud Security," "Federated Clouds," or "Sustainable Cloud." These, of course, represent yet another list of problem solvers. If I were to pick, by impact and relevance, I would choose two: "AI as a Service" and "Multi and Hybrid Cloud."

"AI as a Service" is significant due to the numerous benefits of AI, ranging from economic to social and beyond, catering to personal, small, mid-size, and large organizations. Yet, the necessary IT infrastructure to support it is something many cannot afford to build or dedicate resources to. Thus, the newest problem solver emerges – "AI as a service." For just a fraction of the cost, anyone can utilize the almost unlimited power of AI.

"Multi and Hybrid Cloud" is essential as it addresses many challenges organizations face. From the difficulty of migrating toward the Cloud, requiring an intermediary step like a Hybrid IT Infrastructure (On-prem + Cloud), to needing compliance, data governance, etc., to be adhered to, it offers a solution. On the other side, using a single Cloud provider addresses reliability and flexibility compared to using the Multi-Cloud approach.

Ultimately, what's most important is that when designing or choosing a Cloud-based solution, there's no universal one-size-fits-all solution, as each listed above serves as a specific problem-solver. Therefore, our Cloud experts at Qinshift, drawing on years of experience and wide expertise, are always driven by one of the most important premises – choosing a Cloud-based solution that will bring the utmost value to the Customer and solve their problems, both current and future.