The Future of the Cloud in 2017

A new year brings many new opportunities, especially in tech. Here at CommQueR.com, we feel that the future of tech and the cloud are the same thing; the age of the installation disc is long over, and we’ve entered one that’s based almost entirely on your browser.

Right now, for example, small entrepreneurs can run their entire business using just a laptop.

They can:

Do their books

Check their inventory

Process payments

Communicate with clients

Using many current apps on the market, sometimes, they can do everything listed above at the same time, using a single program.

1. Software-as-a-Service

Software-as-a-service, or SaaS, is going to be the future for two primary reasons; the many demands placed on professionals and business owners mean that they often need to be able to work at anytime, and from anywhere.

At the same time, current forward strides in technology make this feat easier than ever.

These two developments strengthen each other, making at least some adjustment to the new rules a necessity for anyone looking to build a career in the 21st century. Currently, so many businesses are adjusting to this new reality, that it’s unlikely for technophobics even to find a job that doesn’t require at least some cloud savviness.

On top of that, we also have the increasing internationalization.

Large multi-national corporations have been able to employ people in office roles from overseas for decades now, but even small companies are now participating in this trend.

Here at CommQueR.com, we work with a team of writers and editors from all over the globe, and none of us are based in the same country.

Our collaboration would have been impossible even 15 years ago, and we feel confident in saying that there are many companies out there right now, that simply wouldn’t have been able to exist without the cloud and all the essential services it has produced.

2. Online Collaboration

Currently, you can use the Internet to communicate with people using:

 Skype

WhatsApp

 Slack

And do your own accounting without ever touching an “install” button using QuickBooks Online or Xero; and collaborate online using Google Docs.

A good example is a friend of mine who is a chartered accountant in California; as his kids are nearly done with school, he and the wife are looking for a change of scenery that will hopefully also be lucrative in the long run.

Currently, they’re considering several European countries to move their practice to, with their time in the Golden State reduced to a few months per year during tax season.

This journey is by no means a small undertaking, but thanks to SaaS and it’s brother, PaaS, they will be able to continue work like they never left. Some support staff will remain in Los Angeles, but every day, they can just log into a virtual server and run the company from there.

3. The Cloud and Entertainment

These two examples give you an idea of what it’s like for businesses, but entertainment, too, is becoming more globalized.

Netflix is a prime example, of course, but by now it has plenty of competitors, each offering an audience of billions the chance to watch movies and TV shows from any Internet-connected device.

Steam is another great cloud-based service; it allows you to buy and store games from anywhere, then download and play them whenever you want. However, right now, companies are working on the next step, called GaaS, gaming as a service.

Just like with accounting programs or messaging services, customers can log into a virtual desktop that can run any game, from almost any computer.

Though GaaS is still in development, it does show that cloud technology in 2017 is a boulder that won’t stop rolling.

4. The Cloud and Surveillance

Though SaaS and its ilk are likely to keep going the way they are, regard technology, this is likely not going to be the case for security. With an eye on recent developments, we feel confident in saying that the real technological revolution for 2017 will be in the security field.

Though attention for the last few years has mostly been focused on the NSA and its shenanigans, the European Union also is looking at a slew of the privacy-breaching legislature.

Less terrifying than PRISM, it’s still pretty scary that Dutch law enforcement will be able to hack WhatsApp accounts with the judiciary’s full support. Though it may be leaving the EU soon, Britain also has measures in place to spy on citizens in a bid to track down suspected terrorists, though it’s rather unclear who fits that description and who doesn’t.

However, the country to watch the closest, in this regard during 2017, is going to be Germany; thanks to the wave of terror that swept through it in 2016, the German security services are looking to implement some drastic measures to prevent future attacks.

Though keeping people safe is a good thing, of course, it remains debatable whether spying on the populace makes them any more impregnable.

5. Cloud Security in 2017

Thankfully, there are plenty of people in power that want to prevent all this surveillance, but it still pays to think about these things in your capacity as a private citizen.

And remember, it’s important to secure your data and browsing habits by using security-minded cloud storage providers on the one hand, and a good VPN on the other.

Though the best services in this field are also the most expensive, keeping people from tracking you is worth it.

Though thus far we’ve emphasized the role of governments, criminals are becoming more active on the Internet as well. Keeping your browsing private by using a VPN means that you’ll be safe from both criminal enterprises, as well as legal ones.

In that same vein, we predict that storage services which offer real security, like Sync.com and pCloud, will have a lot of new members signing up during 2017.

As for the immediate future, all these services will likely have to keep developing some very innovative new encryption methods, as well as other tricks, to stay a step ahead of both criminals as well as intelligence agencies.

Though it’s hard to predict precisely what will happen (they are secrets, after all), 2017 will likely see several new technologies to combat spying in all its forms.

In Summary: CommQueR.com in 2017

For us at CommQueR.com, cloud technology is about empowerment through computerization. New tools in the field of online collaboration, coupled with security measures to keep your data safe, are aimed at doing that exactly.

2017 is going to be another year in which the editorial team at CommQueR.com is going to put out content designed to help you grow a business and keep your data from prying eyes

We’re looking forward to a year of many new breakthroughs in online technology, and we will be guiding our readers through these developments, one step at a time.

Please let us know in the comments below if you have any ideas you feel we’ve missed or would like to include. Thanks for reading and best wishes for the new year!