Gartner’s Top Cloud Trends: Rising AI/ML Demand, Digital Sovereignty, Sustainability, Others

There are several developments in the cloud landscape that are speeding up the shift in how the technology is evolving from a facilitator to a business disruptor and essential tool for the majority of enterprises. 

Gartner has announced the top trends shaping the future of cloud adoption over the next four years. They include cloud dissatisfaction, artificial intelligence/machine learning, multicloud, sustainability, digital sovereignty, and industry solutions. 

By 2028, 25% of organisations would have been significantly dissatisfied with their cloud adoption, according to Gartner, because of inflated expectations, poor execution, and/or uncontrolled costs.

Businesses require a clear cloud strategy and efficient implementation to be competitive. According to Gartner, cloud discontent will decline by 2029 for companies who have successfully handled upfront strategic focus. 

Hyperscalers will be at the centre of the anticipated spike in demand for AI/ML. By integrating fundamental features into their IT infrastructure, fostering collaborations with vendors and users, and using real and artificial data to train AI models, they will propel a change in the distribution of compute resources. According to Gartner, by 2029, AI workloads will account for 50% of cloud compute resources, up from less than 10% presently.

Organisations that have adopted multicloud architecture find its complexity challenging. Cloud adoption may be slowed by this lack of compatibility between environments, and by 2029, over 50% of enterprises won’t see the anticipated benefits from multicloud deployments. 

Gartner advises identifying use cases and planning for distributed apps and data that can benefit from a cross-cloud deployment architecture.

Industry-specific cloud platforms are becoming more popular. According to Gartner, by 2029, more than 50% of companies would employ industry cloud platforms to speed up business activities. 

Organisations should approach industry cloud platforms to add new capabilities to their broader IT portfolio, rather than a total replacement, to avoid technical debt and drive business value, Gartner suggests. 

Demand for sovereign cloud services is being driven by AI, stricter privacy laws, and geopolitical concerns, and protecting data, infrastructure, and vital workloads will become more critical. By 2029, more than 50% of multinational organisations will have digitally sovereign strategies, up from less than 10% today, according to Gartner.

Organisations are under pressure to better understand, quantify, and manage the sustainability implications of cloud technologies as AI workloads increase energy consumption. According to Gartner, by 2029, more than 50% of multinationals will prioritise sustainability in their buying processes.

As per Gartner, organisations must match their sustainability plans with important business results and consider factors other than environmental effect if they want to get more out of their cloud expenditures.