Cloud computing was a major trend prior to COVID-19, however 93% of IT decision makers are accelerating cloud adoption programmes as a result of the pandemic.

Pointing to research conducted by Global Data, Telstra has confirmed what many in the industry had already assumed. Having been unprepared, businesses are now embracing the cloud mentality, indicating a major shift to how IT budgets are allocated, and businesses operate.

Looking at the research, there are a few takeaways:

• Businesses were not prepared for a dramatic shift in operations and the working dynamic, with 30% stating there was no preparation for unexpected global events.
• Attitudes towards remote working and mobility are shifting; 98% believe video will replace a proportion of in-person meetings permanently
• Some of the enforced digital transformation programmes to allow operations to continue during the pandemic will be retained for the long-term, with 67% now favouring a multi-cloud strategy
• Cloud computing and software services segments are likely to see significant increases in activity and revenue, with 93% accelerating cloud deployments

What is worth noting is this is not going to be a comfortable time for everyone in the IT ecosystem.

As with every shift in operations or mentality, there will be winners and there will be losers. For example, premise-based firewalls protecting the perimeter will become less popular with enterprise customers, while the platform-centric approach to IT could be supercharged as a result. Automation for provisioning and service management could increase as a result.

Interestingly enough, a report from cyber security specialist Nexor suggests there is somewhat of a panic to ensure readiness.

Using Google search engine data, the firm suggests searches for ‘cyber defence’ rose by 126% year-on-year during March, while ‘cyber security services’ increased 44% and ‘how to install a VPN’ was up 40%.

COVID-19 has certainly changed the way in which we world, and it is becoming increasingly likely these behavioural shifts, or at least some form of them, will be here for the long run.

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