Trend #7: The Cloud Becomes The Platform For The Next Transition

The rise in the use of cloud-enabled IT and service-centric IT means the cloud is not an end in itself, Bova said. "It's the platform for all the other things I've been talking about," she said.

For this reason, solution providers need to start becoming "cloud-first" businesses, Bova said.

"You have to think, 'Everything I do for my customer today has to be ready for the cloud,'" she said. "You can't approach it from a traditional IT and think you can back into the cloud. You are doing your customers a disservice if you think that way."