In IT, the future is cloudy, but these are not the black clouds of doom and gloom that you might expect me to talk about.
Changes in the IT industry have often been quite extensive, but this latest change is more significant than anything that has come before.
Forget 8-bit to 16-bit, forget 16 to 32-bit, and indeed forget 32 to 64-bit because you no longer need to know anything about the underlying physical infrastructure.
What is the future of IT?
The future is a software as a service. The end is apps running on a platform you do not have to maintain, also known as PaaS or Platform as a Service.
The future is the cloud, and with the billions being invested by Amazon, Google and Microsoft, there is no longer any way to go back.
The future is the cloud, and you must seriously consider your choices as the cloud is about to pass the point of no return.
Those using cloud services like AWS, Azure, and Office 365 have had first mover advantage for approximately five years.
They may have had teething problems, but I can assure you these platforms are very robust.
As always, the little grey I mentioned is lawyers and the law trying to catch up with technology that moves faster than the legal system can keep pace with.
Where is your data held? What rights do foreign governments have over your data? What if it is owned by a company registered in their jurisdiction?
How to successfully use IT in the future
When it comes to how you implement your IT infrastructure, the future is cloudy, and you need to ensure that your team has the expertise in this new wave of IT.
You will most likely start using a hybrid approach, joining your internal systems to those in the public cloud.
When you realise that you can further reduce your costs on electricity, air conditioning for on-premise systems and maintenance, you may feel that it is time to move entirely to the cloud.
Want to move to the cloud?
Start here for a primer.
The future is indeed bright, and the future is undoubtedly cloudy.