Cloud Predictions 2018

This is the season for predictions; Super Bowl, Oscars and Olympics. Those are all fun but one list of predictions this season could be transformative for your business. Oracle’s experts published “Cloud Predictions 2018” for leaders like you who aren’t interested in watching and waiting for your competition’s next move. Oracle’s list is for those who want to be the game changers.

Cloud Predictions 2018 looks to the trends affecting Oracle’s industry-leading customers. From there, the Oracle experts make predictions for how technological development will transform cloud computing over the next two years.

We’ll give you a synopsis of the predictions in this post. We’re not going so far, though, that you’ll need a spoiler alert. You’ll want to read the complete top ten list here.

1. Data
Of course, data is number one. The ability to manage data effectively is critical to the success of a business. Is your business using time and resources to piece together solutions? Have you planned for implementing autonomous operations with provisioning, scaling, backup, upgrades and patching? What percentage of all enterprise data do you expect will be managed autonomously by 2020?

2. Intelligent Automation
Intelligent automation has the very real potential to reduce the number of human-managed interventions per year from tens of thousands to fewer than two dozen. This, combined with the extreme reliability and security of automation, is already boosting customer confidence and encouraging even greater migration to the cloud. What percent, then, of application and infrastructure operations can we expect to be resolved autonomously in just two years?

3. Security
In a 2016 survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, 32 percent of organizations admitted they had been a victim of cybercrime. 34 percent expected to become a victim in the next two years. People and organizations are wary. How will your priorities change in this climate as cloud providers – namely Oracle – offer the ability to autonomously detect and fix security vulnerabilities, encrypt data and conduct regular patches?

4. On-Premises Controls
Is it going to be all or nothing with the cloud? A newly created business is ideally suited for cloud-native architecture but what about businesses that are not interested in application rebuilds? Or the ones not ready to relinquish complete operational control of their mission-critical workloads?

5. Regulated Industries
Regulatory requirements have proven to be roadblocks to public cloud adoption until recently. As these impediments continue to be overcome and – perhaps more importantly – as solutions such as Oracle Cloud deliver the needed scalability and extendibility of the public cloud behind a firewall, how will regulated industries respond to increased access to the cloud?

6. Microservices
You might know from your own experiences that the adoption of cross-cloud containers is on the rise. Businesses value open source tooling and integration with cross-cloud containers for their scalability and many businesses want to avoid vendor lock-in. How will the cloud, then, adapt to the demand in just two years?

7. Artificial Intelligence
The term “artificial intelligence (AI)” was coined in 1956 – that’s more than 60 years ago. Will AI finally have a significant place in the enterprise? How can Oracle’s pre-built AI-enabled SaaS and Internet of Things (IoT) applications and IT infrastructure management help?

8. Chatbots
In fall 2016 Forbes ran the story, “Chatbots Will Be Your New Best Friend.” So, yeah, they’ve already proven to be a fantastic tool for enhancing customer service and productivity. It seems like an exciting area for even further development with the possibility of impacting everything from administrative workload to accessibility. What does Oracle predict for the next generation of chatbots by 2020?

9. The Internet of Things
The Internet of Things includes more than 50 billion devices churning out data. Although we all recognize this data is a goldmine, most of this data is going unused and that’s not ok. Oracle customers want data and information in an organized manner so that they can respond in real time. According to the Oracle experts, what is required to effectively gather and manage the vast data from devices to drive future actions?

10. Blockchain
Blockchain is already transforming the global financial industry. What can we expect as industries such as healthcare and the retail sector get on board? The word “disruptive” is often paired with “Blockchain” but what can we really expect and how is Oracle set to help businesses prepare? A prediction from the experts at Oracle and their industry-leading customers on this topic – or any from Oracle’s top ten list – could lead to decisions that transform businesses.

Read the complete list of Oracle’s Cloud Predictions 2018,

Hear first-hand from Oracle Cloud Product and Strategy Team how Oracle Cloud can help transform your business. Make plans to attend COLLABORATE 18, April 22-26, 2018. Save up to 40 percent by registering before March 8. Stay up to date with the latest conference news by following @QuestUserGroup on Twitter and look for the official COLLABORATE 18 hashtag, #C18LV!