Gartner analysts, at the recent Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo held in India, reported that cloud computing will shift from being a technology disruptor to becoming a necessary component for maintaining business competitiveness. They report that in 2024, worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to total $679 billion and projected to exceed $1 trillion in 2027.
Gartner predicts that more than 50% of enterprises will use industry cloud platforms by 2028 to accelerate their business initiatives, and that in 2028, most organizations will be leveraging cloud as a business necessity.
Gartner adds that companies that are adopting cloud technology as a capability enabler are using its potential to enable new capabilities such as elasticity, rapid continuous integration/cloud delivery (CI/CD), serverless functions and AI-infused APIs and processes that were difficult to achieve pre-cloud. To exploit these new capabilities, these organizations must carefully evaluate factors such as their investment in skills development, breaking down operational silos, and promoting collaboration among teams to seamlessly adopt automation.
Milind Govekar, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
Organizations are actively investing in cloud technology due to its potential to foster innovation, create market disruptions, and enhance customer retention in order to gain a competitive edge. While many organizations have started to seize the technical advantages of cloud, only a few have unlocked its full potential in supporting business transformation. As a result, organizations are using the cloud to launch a new wave of disruption driven by artificial intelligence (AI), enabling them to unlock business value at scale. As businesses navigate through digital transformation journeys, movement to the cloud becomes a key decision point. By leveraging the ecosystem of cloud providers, organizations can introduce innovative products and services, such as fraud prevention solutions for second-hand cars from tire manufacturers, or rapid vaccine development through cloud-based machine learning by pharmaceutical companies. With cloud computing becoming an integral part of business operations in 2028, CIOs and IT leaders will have to implement a highly efficient cloud operating model in order to achieve their desired business objectives.
