“Along with social, mobile and analytics, Cloud technologies and models have earned a place as one of the core disruptors of the digital age. And while the cloud market has matured over the years, its interaction with the rapidly growing data and analytics landscape suggests there are plenty more disruptive opportunities for cloud in 2016,” writes Thor Olavsrud for CIO. He interviewed industry experts to get their picks on what will be the key cloud trends this year. Here are the highlights:

• Data migration. The processes for moving data in and out of the cloud will become simpler due to increased use of self-service data integration and data prep tools
• Hybrid. Hybrid cloud will be more the “norm” as companies of every size will continue to be in transition between on premise and cloud
• Adoption. Enterprises are beyond testing the waters and will “go cloud in a big way”
• Partners in cloud use. IT will become “innovation brokers” viewed no longer as just the “fixers” but as a resource to determine how to best utilize the cloud
• APIs. Cloud vendors will start to offer more APIs on demand
• Security. Increased cloud use and demand will drive the formation of baseline cloud security standards
• Enterprise advances. With new tool developments enterprises may also be able to achieve some cloud benefits on internal systems

Are you interested in discussing current cloud trends and the effects on your cloud strategy?  Join us on February 11^th in St. Paul, our team will discuss what is happening in the cloud industry and break down the questions (and answers!) you should ask to develop or evolve your own cloud strategy.  After the discussion we will head over to the Xcel to watch the MN Wild take on the Washington Capitals. We invite you to register.