Dive Brief:
- Cloud will continue to reach new heights in the enterprise and create new opportunities, according to Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Mary Meeker, who delivered her annual internet trends report at the Code Conference in California on Wednesday. Public and private clouds are now approaching traditional data center spend, Meeker said.
- Meeker’s enterprise predictions this year centered on cloud, how enterprise software is mirroring consumer software as workers demand tools as easy to use as consumer apps, and how cloud enabled app use in the enterprise is on the rise as those apps become easier to build. Security, however, remains a concern.
- Meeker spent a good deal of time examining how China is growing as a tech rival to the U.S. in her annual report. Seven of the 16 biggest market caps in tech belong to Chinese companies, according to Meeker. Those seven are worth $929 billion total. In Meeker’s words, U.S. companies may still dominate the money invested in tech, but Chinese companies are catching up.
Dive Insight:
Meeker annually compiles a list of where she sees tech going, covering everything from changes in the smartphone market to predictions in enterprise technology. In her research, she confirms much of where the market is already going. More technology is becoming virtualized and on-prem services are no longer dominating the market.
In the cloud race, Meeker said Google and Microsoft are beginning to gain on Amazon Web Services. Part of that is because companies no longer want to depend on just one company when it comes to cloud. Companies are using multiple cloud providers to ensure continuity of service in case of a performance issue and to help them avoid vendor lock-in.
If there's one thing Meeker's report makes clear, it's that the markets are changing. Success is no longer assured as companies have to stay on top of innovation to remain dominant. A competitive environment makes room for new markets, such as the emergence of China as one of the key areas for tech vendors.
