Predictions For 2014: Cloud Computing

As we head into 2014, cloud computing is no longer a "future" but a "now." Investments are up, enterprise use is widespread, and the hybrid cloud model has arrived. While the bulk of cloud acquisition and use continues to be driven by line of business, in 2014, traditional IT departments will stop asking "why cloud?" and instead get busy integrating cloud into the existing portfolio, extending data center infrastructures with elastic cloud technologies, and consuming new bespoke platforms and private cloud solutions to back the moves by DevOps and line of business. As the age of the customer arrives, all the focus shifts to the systems of engagement and the agility in refining these critical customer tools. Cloud technologies and services represent the fastest way for the business to reach new buyers and breathe new life into aging applications. In 2014, cloud leverage will be both traditional and disruptive as the business and IT put cloud to work. In this report, Forrester's cloud watchers weigh in on what they predict will happen in the world of cloud in 2014.