Trends that fizzled, trends that triumphed
A full 10 years of global data from the annual F5 State of Application Strategy Survey reveal a decade of digital app evolution. Key findings from each year show how much has changed—and highlight our current trajectory to the future.
2015
Private Clouds Earn Enthusiasm Despite Public Cloud Hype
Private clouds were named the number 1 strategic trend in a year where all the hype centered on public clouds.
2016
Security Starts to Shift
35% of organizations use identity federation as location-based security begins giving way to a zero-trust focus on users, identity, and apps. In less than a decade, 9 in 10 organizations will follow.
2017
Clouds Thrive
After a decade of public cloud penetration, 47% of organizations say they’re cloud first, with consumer-facing apps most likely to be deployed in that model.
2018
Cloud Decisions Depend on the App
In an app-centric approach to their business, 56% of organizations choose clouds case-by-case for each app.
2019
Automation Skyrockets
62% of organizations deploy automation and orchestration to keep pace with digital transformation and increasingly distributed apps.
2020
Multicloud Operations Expand
87% of organizations manage multiple clouds and most struggle with security as a result.
2021
App Modernization Explodes
77% of organizations are modernizing their app portfolios to fuel a heated digital economy. That’s more than double the 2020 rate, driven in part by the impacts of COVID-19.
2022
AI Promises Disruption to Come
9 in 10 organizations plan to use AI to better serve customers (although 98% say they’re missing insights they need).
2023
Hybrid IT Endures
85% of organizations operate multiple deployment environments and delivery models, from on-premises data centers to Software as a Services (SaaS).
2024
APIs Rise Over Apps
95% of organizations use API gateways, way up from 35% in 2019—not least because 41% manage at least as many APIs as apps.