Gartner: Six trends shaping cloud adoption over next four years

Gartner has revealed the six trends shaping the future of cloud adoption over the next four years at its Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference.

These include cloud dissatisfaction, AI/machine learning (ML), multicloud, sustainability, digital sovereignty and industry solutions.

During the opening keynote of the event in Sydney today, Joe Rogus, director of advisory at Gartner, said these trends are accelerating the shift in how cloud is transforming from a technology enabler to a business disruptor and necessity for most organisations.

“Over the next few years, cloud will continue to unlock new business models, competitive advantages and ways of achieving business missions,” he said.

Cloud Dissatisfaction

Gartner predicts 25% of organisations will have experienced significant dissatisfaction with their cloud adoption by 2028, due to unrealistic expectations, suboptimal implementation and/or uncontrolled costs.

To remain competitive, Gartner said that enterprises need a clear cloud strategy and effective execution. Gartner research indicates that those that have successfully addressed upfront strategic focus by 2029 will find their cloud dissatisfaction will decrease.

AI/ML Demand Increases

Gartner predicts the hyperscalers will drive a shift in how compute resources are allocated by embedding foundational capabilities into their IT infrastructure, facilitating partnerships with vendors and users, and leveraging real and synthetic data to train AI models.

Gartner also predicts 50% of cloud compute resources will be devoted to AI workloads by 2029, up from less than 10% today.

“This all points to a fivefold increase in AI-related cloud workloads by 2029,” said Rogus.

“Now is the time for organisations to assess whether their data centres and cloud strategies are ready to handle this surge in AI & ML demand. In many cases, they might need to bring AI to where the data is to support this growth.”

Multicloud and Cross Cloud

The lack of interoperability between environments can slow cloud adoption, with Gartner predicting more than 50% of organisations will not get the expected results from their multicloud implementations by 2029.

Gartner recommends identifying specific use cases and planning for distributed apps and data in the organisation that could benefit from a cross-cloud deployment model. This enables workloads to operate collaboratively across different cloud platforms, as well as different on-premises and colocation facilities.

Industry Solutions

Over 50% of organisations will use industry cloud platforms to accelerate their business initiatives by 2029, according to Gartner.

Gartner recommends organisations approach industry cloud platforms as a strategic way to add new capabilities to their broader IT portfolio, rather than a total replacement. This allows organisations to avoid technical debt, drive innovation and business value.

Digital Sovereignty

Gartner predicts over 50% of multinational organisations will have digital sovereign strategies by 2029, up from less than 10% today.

“As organisations proactively align their cloud strategies to address digital sovereignty requirements, there are already a wide range of offerings that will support them,” said Rogus.

“However, it’s important they understand exactly what their requirements are, so they can select the right mix of solutions to safeguard their data and operational integrity.”

Sustainability

Gartner research shows the percentage of global organisations prioritising sustainability as part of procurement will rise to over 50% by 2029.

To deliver greater value from cloud investments, Gartner said organisations must look beyond environmental impact alone and align their sustainability strategies with key business outcomes.