In 2023, organizations have confronted an unprecedented stage of stress to digitally remodel with the rise of generative AI in addition to imperatives equivalent to sustainability, labor productiveness and safety. The “Cloud Transformation Report,” a brand new world survey from the IBM Institute for Enterprise Worth (IBV), discovered that many main enterprises share a typical basis to digital transformation—a transparent hybrid cloud technique.¹ These companies cite a number of key advantages to utilizing a hybrid cloud method to gasoline enterprise transformation, together with modernization, agility, safety, sustainability and the flexibility unlock the ability of generative AI.
Right here’s a have a look at the important thing drivers that impacted cloud transformation over the previous 12 months and what they imply for corporations on their cloud modernization journey:
Issues for adopting generative AI
This 12 months, generative AI captured the eye of enterprise leaders—nevertheless it additionally raised questions together with what’s the proper basis to speed up and scale influence? For a lot of organizations, the reply is a hybrid cloud method. The brand new research discovered that 68% of hybrid cloud adopters have already established formal, organization-wide insurance policies to direct their method to generative AI.
With the rise of generative AI comes an inflow of knowledge. Whereas this may gasoline super enterprise improvements, it additionally requires strategic concerns. When executing an AI technique, enterprises want to contemplate their present compute capability, the place knowledge resides—within the cloud, on premises, on the edge—how knowledge is accessed, crucial safety controls, and how one can use current know-how investments successfully. Along with serving to ship enhanced reliability and efficiency, a hybrid cloud method can allow elevated agility with the flexibility to attach cloud and on-premises environments, eradicating limitations to versatile AI workflows.
Addressing safety and compliance considerations
In relation to generative AI, enterprises are additionally involved concerning the potential publicity of delicate knowledge. For instance, 45% of cloud leaders cited considerations about cybersecurity or privateness and confidentiality of knowledge and data as the important thing impediment of their push to implement generative AI. The findings point out that extremely regulated industries are more and more weighing dangers, equivalent to safety, when contemplating the know-how. These organizations are much less prone to have a proper method to AI than another industries, however they’re exhibiting progress: 57% of banks and monetary markets organizations, 54% of insurers and 54% of life sciences/pharma establishments have adopted a proper method to the know-how to this point.
For extremely regulated industries which are tasked with safeguarding important knowledge, there’s so much on the road. To keep away from blind spots, a holistic safety technique that gives visibility throughout a whole hybrid cloud infrastructure is significant to mitigate threat.
Overcoming abilities challenges
The report additionally exhibits persistent obstacles to extra widespread cloud adoption — maybe none as nice as the continuing abilities hole. For instance, 58% of world resolution makers say that cloud abilities stay a substantial problem and 72% of organizations have created new positions to satisfy the necessity for cloud abilities. Inside particular person industries, this deficiency is even higher: 79% in extremely regulated industries equivalent to banking and monetary markets, in addition to 81% in transportation and journey, and 79% in chemical substances and petroleum.
Placing sustainability initiatives within the highlight
Just lately, sustainability has been tied to broader enterprise targets and develop into a bigger precedence for know-how investments for organizations throughout industries. But as generative AI grows, the rise in knowledge processing required for AI workloads does too. This could current new challenges for organizations that want to cut back their greenhouse gasoline (GHG) emissions.
With the proper instruments in place, cloud may also help enterprises monitor, handle and report on sustainability targets — together with for companions and third events. In truth, our findings decided that 42% of world resolution makers verify they’re already utilizing the cloud to assist deploy, monitor and handle sustainability targets internally.
Seeking to the long run
With extra enterprises embarking on their AI journeys, it can develop into important for these organizations to make sure they’ve the proper infrastructure and expertise in place to help these initiatives. Organizations that shift to an agile, safe knowledge construction with a hybrid cloud structure will probably be the winners of tomorrow — armed with a robust basis from which to compete sooner or later AI-driven panorama.
View the complete IBM Institute for Business Value findings. Keen on getting began in your transformation journey? Listed below are some assets:
[1] This research was performed in partnership with Harris Ballot, an unbiased analysis agency.
