Informationweek Commentary The Cloud Comes of Age Amid Unprecedented Change The cloud is set to help businesses lead by outmaneuvering uncertainty. It's now imperative that they lean into the cloud and catch up with leaders before the gap becomes too large. Credit: blackboard via Adobe Stock During the pandemic, the cloud has emerged as the fastest and most resilient method to keep businesses and communities running. From working and attending school remotely, to shopping online and interacting with our health provider, cloud services have enabled it all. As a result of COVID-19, cloud adoption has increased dramatically. Accenture research found that cloud spending in the first quarter of 2020 was nearly triple that of the previous year. According to Gartner, by November 2020, 70% of companies using cloud had plans to increase spending due to the disruption. Cloud spending as a percentage of the global enterprise IT market will increase from 9.1% in 2020 to 14.2% in 2024. As the cloud becomes an essential part of the enterprise IT estate, we’re seeing the long-promised transformational benefits start to materialize. It now seems that even the most optimistic of the cloud advocate’s predictions are coming true. The cloud isn’t simply making business processes cheaper or more efficient -- it’s changing how we work, live, and interact with the society.