A tree, a chainsaw and a confusing end 🌲

🤔 4 things to think about for 2024.

1. Major marketplace momentum

It’s estimated that cloud marketplace sales will grow a huge 84% CAGR over 5 years. They’re proving popular as a one-stop shop, simplifying managing various services in one place. Also, buyers can use budgets already committed to cloud providers.

So, if you’re not using them - or you’ve only scratched the surface of their potential - marketplaces are worth a think for 2024. And, Kris - our Head of Marketplaces - has written a blog explaining a little more about how they work and their benefits. Read it here.

2. The next chapter in Gen AI

Would it be a 2024 trends piece without a mention of Gen AI? Probably not. But, as we roll into the new year, how are organisations addressing complexities around data quality, skills and security, while enabling rapid innovation?

Our AI gurus have been hard at work on this Gen AI 102 blog, answering questions like:

😨 How can you use Gen AI if you don’t have quality data?

🔒 What security guardrails should be in place?

🧑‍🏫 What data science skills do you need for gen AI projects?

Read it here.

3. Data strategy needs sorting

Data is pivotal in powering things like AI, but how do companies realise its full potential when balancing differing views in the business? If you haven’t seen our recent market study with AWS, some of the findings around data strategy might interest you. Things like:

🤷‍♂️ Business and IT people may define data strategy and data targets differently

🤬 They don’t always ‘speak the same language’ on these things

🤨 They experience data differently: As a cost-driver or value-generator

Aleksi’s article addresses these challenges going into next year, so you can start to close that business-IT data strategy gap. Read it here. (You can also check out the study).

4. Time to close the skills gap

Look, the skills gap is nothing new, But it’s not getting any smaller as we head into 2024. So, with companies investing big in their tech, where do they turn with a shortage of talent to leverage and develop these platforms?

We recently wrote an article about this, diving into issues like:

🎓 Why there’s still a problem with cloud skills

👨‍💼 The impact of training on leadership

🚀 How to boost ROI and efficiency with training

Read it here.

🔊 Cloud quote of the month

“Often, there’s a disconnect in experiences of the cost and value of IT services. Where the business sees IT value, IT sees costs.”

Better have a think about getting that sorted.

🎄 Right, that’s enough sensible stuff. Let’s get festive

Time for a festive holiday story, with a sprinkling of Nordcloud customer magic…

Once upon a time, on a Christmas tree farm, there lived a small tree called Tinsel. All the trees on the farm grew big and strong, thanks to their Syngenta crop treatment.

Apart from Tinsel. Tinsel was small and weak.

Tinsel had dreams of the big time. Like getting chopped down and sold in a Carrefour supermarket. Or maybe ending up in an NHS hospital where he could brighten people’s day. Or on a nice desk in an RBI bank.

But nobody wanted Tinsel. Tinsel was ugly AF.

But he was kinda cute (in his own way). And, one day, a nice family came along with their Husqvarna chainsaw and cut Tinsel down, put him in the back of their VW and took him home.

Tinsel had an amazing time at the family home. He saw lots of his tree friends as the family video-called other homes with their great T-Mobile connection, sometimes doing fun things like online Kahoot! quizzes.

But as the festive season passed, Tinsel wondered what was next for him. He was put in the garden for a week, behind the shed, where he dreamt about flying on a Finnair plane back to his roots in Lapland.

But Tinsel’s fate was different. He would end up in the back of a Veolia waste truck, and would be taken and shredded into a million pieces.

But Tinsel was happy. Because in the truck with him were lots of his tree friends. And they would all be shredded into millions of pieces together, and used as compost to grow the next generation of trees.

The End.

⭐ How has cloud changed Christmas for the better?

Did you know that cloud has given the festive season a digital makeover?

Here’s 5 ways things are looking a bit different:

🎅 Savvy Santa - Did you know Santa has upgraded to cloud-based gift lists? It’s a whole lot more eco-friendly, and no more lost post.

🦌 Reindeer Radar - Santa's sleigh is now equipped with cloud-connected radar for seamless navigation through the night sky.

💫 Internet of Twinkle - Santa's workshop’s been upgraded with IoT, ensuring efficient toy production and instant wish-list updates.

🎁 Protected Presents - Santa now sends his presents in a super secure way, in extra encrypted wrapping to keep out any ho-ho-hackers.

🥧 Mrs Claus’ Cookbooks - No more lost recipes, Mrs Claus now has all her secret recipes backed up in the cloud. Santa can’t do those trips on an empty stomach can he?