Cloud computing trends are shaping the way businesses operate in 2025 and beyond. At its core, cloud computing simply means renting compute power, storage, and software over the internet - then scaling up or down as needed. This flexibility allows teams to innovate faster, reduce upfront hardware costs, and focus on growth instead of infrastructure.
According to Gartner, global end-user spending on public cloud services is projected to reach $723 billion in 2025, a 21.5% increase from the previous year. This surge is fueled by AI initiatives driving demand for data, platform, and infrastructure services. As budgets for cloud continue to grow, executives are also placing greater emphasis on cost control and ROI.
Managing cloud spend remains a top priority. Flexera’s 2025 State of the Cloud Report found that 84% of organizations consider cost management their biggest challenge. Treating cost as a design input -deciding where workloads should run and who owns the bill - can prevent waste and ensure sustainable adoption.
In this guide, we’ll explore the key cloud computing trends that matter most for your business, from multi-cloud strategies to AI-driven infrastructure, and show how these trends can unlock faster delivery, cost efficiency, and stronger security.
Emerging Technologies Driving Cloud in 2025
Cloud growth this year is powered by a clear driver: AI-ready platforms from the major clouds. These platforms bundle data services, model training/inference, and access to GPU/TPU capacity so teams can move from pilot to production without heavy upfront spend.
That data-hungry work also needs quick responses, which is why more processing happens closer to customers and devices. Edge computing cuts latency for store analytics, factory quality checks, and in-clinic insights, while the cloud handles training and global rollout. IDC pegs 2025 global edge computing spending to grow at 13.8%, rising toward ~$380B by 2028, indicating the clear aim for better customer experience and operational savings.
As computing spreads across core and edge, most firms now spread vendors too. That’s the appeal of hybrid and multi-cloud: keep choice, meet residency rules, and improve resilience. Recent recaps of Flexera’s 2025 data show about 2.4 public clouds in use on average and ~70% of organizations running hybrid. The catch is cost: Flexera also reports 84% of companies struggle to manage cloud spend so write simple placement rules and tag everything, then link them to business KPIs and the benefits.
With many clouds in play, teams still want to ship fast without growing ops work and that’s where serverless pays off. In serverless, you focus on code while the provider runs the infrastructure, which is ideal for APIs, ETL jobs, and event flows. Adoption is broad: Datadog finds 70%+ of its AWS customers use at least one serverless service, and researchers forecast the serverless market to reach ~$44.7B by 2029, signaling the massive adoption of serverless. If you’re new to this model, check out our guide on AWS Lambda for a quick start.
Industry Adoption & Benefits
Those technology shifts pay off fastest where spending is already high which is why banking, software & information services, and retail sit at the top of public-cloud spending. IDC notes these three together represented about $190B of public-cloud spend in 2024, and the pattern carries into 2025. For leaders, that signals where proven playbooks already exist and where talent and vendors are easiest to find.
Start with financial services, because the rules shape the roadmap. With the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) now applicable from January 17, 2025, boards are asking for tighter third-party and cloud risk controls: clear registers of providers, audit rights, exit strategies, and evidence of resilience testing. The business upside is faster product launches and cleaner compliance reviews when these basics are in place.
Retail is the other big mover, and the reason is speed at the edge. Store analytics, real-time pricing, and vision-based loss prevention work better when decisions happen close to customers, while training and orchestration stay in the cloud. Since global spending on edge computing increases, pilots that cut latency and shrink backhaul costs tend to scale first.
Healthcare and manufacturing see similar gains - local data capture for clinics and plants, central services for model training and compliance checks. Here’s where portability enters. The EU Data Act applies from September 12, 2025, adding cloud switching and data-portability duties that affect contracts, architectures, and exit plans. That’s a strong nudge toward multi-cloud patterns and clean data pipelines- choices that also make audits easier.
Cloud security trends in 2025
AI as both defense and risk
AI is now part of day-to-day cloud security. It helps teams cut through noise by flagging unusual behavior and ranking alerts by urgency. Now, incidents that once took hours to investigate can be addressed in minutes. IBM estimates the average cost of a breach in 2025 at $4.4M, nearly 10% lower than last year, thanks in part to quicker response times. However, without clear rules, AI tools can leak sensitive data or be tricked into mistakes. The safest path is to define how your team uses AI and benchmark new projects against trusted guidelines such as OWASP’s “Top 10 for LLM Applications.”
Zero trust, identity at the core
With workloads running across multiple clouds, the old model of trusting anyone “inside” your systems no longer works. Zero trust flips that approach: every login, device, and workload request must prove who they are and only get the minimum access required. For leaders, this translates into basics like MFA on admin accounts, short-lived credentials instead of static keys, and strict time limits on elevated permissions. A public guide like CISA’s Zero Trust Maturity Model offers a clear roadmap for scaling this across hybrid and multi-cloud setups.
Deadlines driving compliance
Several regulatory milestones in 2025 directly affect cloud users:
- PCI DSS 4.0 – updated payment data rules effective March 31, 2025.
- DORA (EU) – financial firms and their providers must comply from January 17, 2025.
- EU Data Act – rules for switching providers and ensuring data portability take effect September 12, 2025.
The lesson is to build “compliance by design.” Instead of waiting for an audit, bake in regular access reviews, test backups, and keep reliable logs. This not only avoids fines and delays but also strengthens client trust.
Automating guardrails
Manual checks can’t keep up with the pace of multi-cloud adoption. Automation helps by blocking risky actions before they cause harm—such as stopping a storage bucket from being made public or automatically revoking extra permissions. Shared standards like the Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework (OCSF), updated in 2025, allow different security tools to exchange alerts in a consistent format. That makes it easier to spot and fix issues quickly, without overloading teams with tickets.
Security in multi-cloud and hybrid setups
As we’ve already discussed, most organizations now run hybrid strategies and use multiple public clouds—on average 2.4 providers each. The upside is flexibility, but the downside is complexity. Too many accounts and inconsistent logs make investigations drag on. Building a unified view across clouds—where identities and alerts look the same—saves time and sharpens responses. It also connects directly to the placement rules and FinOps practices covered earlier in this post.
Want the full context? Explore our comprehensive post on Top Cloud Security Trends to Watch in 2025.
Challenges and considerations
Spend control and FinOps
Runaway spending is still the top pain point. Flexera’s 2025 survey shows 84% of organizations say managing cloud spend is their biggest challenge, while 59% now have a FinOps team doing some or all cost work. Start with simple levers: tag everything, set product-level budgets, right-size, auto scale, use savings plans or reservations, shut down idle resources, and push show back / chargeback so owners see the bill they influence.
Skills and capacity
The skills gap is real and growing. 90%+ of organizations are predicted to experience the IT skills crunch by 2026, with multi-trillion-dollar impacts from delays and lost deals. Reduce the risk by focusing on platform guardrails, repeatable “golden paths,” and targeted upskilling.
Compliance and switching rules
Two EU files are setting the tone in 2025. DORA applies from January 17, 2025, raising the bar on third-party and cloud risk in financial services. The EU Data Act becomes applicable September 12, 2025, with cloud switching and portability duties that touch contracts, architecture, and exit plans. It’s time to refresh provider registers and exit tests, add portability clauses, and run small “switch drills” so teams can move data and workloads without surprises.
Future outlook - beyond 2025
AI-native stacks
AI will continue to shape cloud priorities. Platform services that combine data pipelines, model training, and inference capabilities are becoming the norm. Leaders should plan not only for computing but also for the storage and networking that support AI workloads. When latency or data-gravity makes cloud alone a poor fit, that’s the signal to push certain tasks closer to the edge.
Edge + cloud mesh
More processing will shift to where customers and devices are located, while training and orchestration remain centralized. The practical step is to set clear placement rules: which workloads demand near-instant responses at the edge, which can batch in the cloud, and how data should move between them. These decisions naturally lead to questions of portability and choice as regulations tighten.
Regulation and sovereignty
Regulatory deadlines are now shaping design as much as technology. While the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is raising the bar on third-party and cloud risk management, the EU Data Act, is expected to bring new duties around switching providers and data portability. Both point toward more hybrid and multi-cloud strategies, along with cleaner exit plans and stronger contracts. As the rulebook evolves, so must the controls that enforce it.
Security by design (post-quantum ready)
Plan for cryptography changes now. NIST finalized three post-quantum standards (FIPS 203/204/205) in Aug 2024. Start with an inventory of where crypto lives, test new algorithms on low-risk paths, and build a migration playbook. This keeps releases on track as vendors update libraries and clouds add support. With the road ahead clear, the last step is to turn this view into a short action list in Section 7.
Conclusion
Understanding cloud computing trends has become a business priority. The shifts we’ve covered, from AI-ready platforms to multi-cloud adoption, edge computing, and stronger security models, directly shape how organizations operate. For decision-makers, the takeaway is to act early, allowing businesses to turn these trends into competitive advantages, whether through faster time-to-market, smarter budget use, or stronger compliance posture. SotaTek has helped clients across finance, retail, healthcare, and manufacturing turn these possibilities into real results. With 500+ successful projects delivered internationally, we are one of Vietnam’s leading IT service providers, trusted for both scale and expertise. If you’re ready to shape your cloud strategy for 2025 and beyond, contact us today to book a consultation with our Cloud Consulting team.
https://www.sotatek.com/ 
(+84)2466585248 
