State of private cloud: Trends to look forward to in 2024

According to a report by Technavio, the private cloud services market size is estimated to grow at a Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.71% between 2023 and 2028.

And this growth of the private cloud market isn’t just an aberration in the matrix. Instead, businesses are increasingly shifting to the cloud to offer digital services and stand up to their competition. 

For instance, a 2023 Gartner report forecasts that 75% of organizations will adopt a cloud-driven model by 2026. 

We’ve done the legwork and kept an eye on overarching private cloud trends for you, and you can rely on us to provide all the required insights. 

Let’s start with understanding what private cloud offers and then dig deeper into what it can offer a modern business. 

A private cloud is a cloud computing solution where a single tenant has exclusive access to all cloud resources. In short, instead of sharing the server infrastructure with multiple global companies, you have your own dedicated cloud. 

Plus, since the cloud consists of virtualized physical hardware, you have flexibility in how you want to host the cloud. For instance, you can start your on-premises private cloud like the old-style data centers. Or, you can rely on hosted private cloud services that can take over the cloud maintenance and let you enjoy the dedicated resources without additional staff training costs. 

Still, why should you opt for a private cloud? Typically, the answer is easier compliance, robust security, and predictable budgeting. That said, to get the whole answer, you can turn to the emerging private cloud trends. 

While private clouds have much to offer modern businesses, you can draw inspiration from the growing trends and initiatives in the private cloud ecosystem to make the most of this rapidly evolving technology.  

If you’re looking for a cloud solution, you don’t necessarily need to choose between public or private cloud. 

Instead, you can opt for both simultaneously with a hybrid cloud infrastructure, as 82% of respondents told Cisco.

How does hybrid cloud work? With a hybrid cloud, you can get the best of both worlds by combining private and public clouds. For instance, you can store sensitive data in your private cloud and use public cloud to run the accessory operations. 

If you’re already using public cloud and looking for a reliable private cloud provider, consider Liquid Web’s VMware Private Cloud. 

Similarly, you don’t have to lock in with a single public cloud service either. With a multi-cloud strategy, you can use multiple public clouds together to get the best of each cloud. 

For instance, you can use GCP if you feel that Google Cloud Platform (GCP) helps with your AI application. And if you work within the Microsoft Ecosystem, getting integrations from Microsoft Azure might be valuable. 

While pay-as-you-go pricing models for public clouds are initially appealing, the hefty bills you get afterward take the fun out of cloud computing. Plus, you also have to deal with hidden charges of public clouds due to your bandwidth requirements.

For instance, VMware found that 76% of companies that use multiple clouds struggle to control their cloud spending. 

In contrast, private clouds let you opt for a predictable cost model with lower expenses than public clouds. For instance, Liquid Web’s VMware Private Cloud is built around a simple resource-based pricing model, so you never have to worry about exceeding your IT budget — plus, there are no per-VM fees.

Investing in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation is the new normal since they offer many growth opportunities. That said, given all the competition, it can be a bit like living on the edge, and you’ll need a private cloud to support your business operations. 

For instance, say you run an AI-focused firm that offers UAVs to intelligently spray pesticides. In that case, you’ll need the UAVs to have the capacity to detect crops, people, and livestock within seconds — which isn’t always possible if you send the data back to your primary server. 

Instead, it may be better to have a safe, private data center nearby that serves your customers. 

The best way to do that? Private clouds. Besides the security isolation to comply with relevant data regulations, you can also customize the IT infrastructure to support AI-focused workloads and process incoming queries within milliseconds. 

And it’s not just pesticide drones that can make use of this. In 2023, Accenture shared that 83% of C-level executives from major industries find edge computing critical for remaining competitive in the future. 

On the one hand, you’ll have a private cloud to power the AI-based systems since it can store, process, and put machine learning algorithms to use. For instance, if you’re using Liquid Web’s VMware Private Cloud, you can turn to VMware Private AI to use generative AI to your advantage without worrying about data leakage. 

You can also see AI-based solutions inside the private cloud, helping you with resource allocation, database security, and cost optimization. For example, artificial intelligence will help security tools look past the noise and notice anomalies that contemporary solutions may miss. 

While organizations are adopting the cloud for digital transformation, cybersecurity professionals are somewhat concerned about the resulting security challenges. In fact, Fortinet’s 2023 Cloud Security report found that 95% of organizations are worried about their security situation in public clouds.

With a private cloud, companies can double down on security via its dedicated structure from the start since there’s one less attack surface to worry about. Besides that, since you have exclusive access to the server infrastructure, you can easily take additional security precautions as necessary to protect your organizational data.   

If you have ever been audited before, you know that one of the ways to sail through audits is to have your main server buried deep in the basement, away from prying eyes, and disconnected from the Internet. 

That said, with the digital-first focus of business, you can’t take such extreme measures. Instead, companies are turning to private clouds to utilize cloud computing without overcomplicating their security since it’s a dedicated server without noisy neighbors. 

With Liquid Web’s VMware Private Cloud, a compliant private cloud solution is just the start. We can assist you with PCI scanning and vulnerability assessment to further expedite compliance processes. 

A private cloud also makes it easy to adopt modern technologies such as containerization and microservices in your IT stack. 

The best example of this is healthcare data processing at a healthcare organization. Instead of fighting tooth and nail with the regulatory authority using public clouds, you can use containerized microservices to process sensitive patient health records and keep them encrypted inside the private cloud. 

Plus, you can anonymize the data before exporting to the public cloud, where you can perform data analytics to identify trends and forecast future outcomes. 

And it’s not just healthcare. Any business that involves sensitive customer data like contact details, addresses, or payment card details can use a private cloud with containerization and microservices to get your work done while complying with relevant regulations. 

With Liquid Web, you can leverage containerization and microservices via VMware Tanzu, which comes with VMware Private Cloud. 

With the changing digital landscape, investing in private cloud technology to support your business operations can be a good choice. 

Still, spearheading the digital transformation by riding on one of these private cloud trends takes more than technology. You’ll also need a reliable partner that stands with your internal IT team through thick and thin and helps you focus on serving the customers instead of detangling technical messes if anything goes wrong. 

If you’re looking for such a private cloud partner, consider Liquid Web. Liquid Web offers VMware Private Cloud with affordable pricing and all the features you need to get started and support your business growth.

Plus, you have the Most Helpful Humans In Hosting to back you up 24/7/365 throughout the partnership.