CIF’s latest research white paper, “Tough times, but innovation springs internal”, found that 100 per cent of organisations are now accessing cloud-based services to meet their needs, with the most common motivation being its potential to offer greater flexibility of IT spend alongside more business agility.
The data also examined the continued prominence of artificial intelligence in fuelling innovation, and the continued importance placed on ESG efforts.
The research found that the preferred cloud-based services were provided by AWS (used by 57 per cent of respondents), with Azure (51 per cent) and IBM (51 per cent) closely behind. 39 per cent of organisations reported using Google Cloud, 28 per cent Oracle and 18 per cent Salesforce.
Almost all organisations (96 per cent) believe that AI will be at least somewhat important to their organisation in the next five years, an increase from 86 per cent in 2023. Further to this, 42 per cent of respondents reported that they consider AI among their most important IT projects, ahead of other considerations such as security and IT sustainability.
David Terrar, CEO, CIF, said, “Cloud has long been a regular feature in any modern companies’ tech stack, and this year’s research exemplifies how this remains the case as businesses across industries manage a challenging economic climate. With cloud services more or less ubiquitous now, attention should turn to where businesses can maximise its potential, particularly in crucial areas such as AI and ESG. Thanks to its inherent flexibility, cloud can help companies navigate these challenges with confidence.
“Our research also indicates that AI’s rapid rise has continued over the last 12 months and shows little sign of slowing. In fact, many of those surveyed highlighted AI as one of their most important projects, outranking other key considerations like security and cloud migration. Nearly all of the respondents said that AI is a part of their plans, but two thirds of them are already using it, likely representing the fastest adoption of new enterprise technology ever.
“Economic uncertainty remains one of the few constants that businesses can reliably expect. In the coming year, organisational leaders should continue to work closely with their service providers to ensure that they’re getting the very most out of cloud, while providers should be examining with urgency how they can develop and adapt their offerings to help customers succeed in the age of AI.”
The full research paper can be downloaded here.