A new report has been published offering insights into how businesses are reshaping their cloud strategies to foster innovation and drive transformation.

The report, Cloud Evolution: Mandate to Modernise, comes from technology services firm HCLTech, and revealed that 87% of firms are now utilising more than one cloud provider, with an average of three providers forming the backbone of most companies multi-cloud strategies.

The study, based on a survey of 500 senior business and technology leaders, found that today firms are 2.2 times more likely to have a deliberate multi-cloud strategy than three years ago, with 85% of enterprises reporting that they will definitely or likely collaborate with additional cloud providers within the next year.

The benefit of those collaborations is widely recognised, with 83% of enterprises that partner with third-party consultants reporting significant improvements in IT efficiency and application performance, highlighting the value of expert guidance in cloud strategy execution.

Despite the growing adoption of public cloud computing technologies, 81% of organisations acknowledged that they would maintain an on-premises infrastructure due to data security and regulatory needs, highlighting the importance of a hybrid cloud strategy.

The data also shows that genAI projects are driving cloud adoption and boosting interest in cloud native practices. Nearly all businesses (98%) are exploring custom genAI solutions for using cloud native methods to modernise applications.

At the same time, more than half (55%) of enterprises believe data for custom genAI solutions should stay on-premises, causing many to first run these solutions locally before scaling them to the cloud.

For the majority of respondents, modernisation is key to fully leveraging cloud technology, with 80% agreeing that the full value of the public cloud can only be unlocked by modernising applications during migration, rather than just transferring them directly to the cloud.

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“Cloud is not just a technology investment; it is fundamental to how businesses modernise,” said  Siki Giunta, executive VP and head of the Cloud Native Centre of Excellence at HCLTech.

“Embracing cloud native architectures and platform engineering is essential for enterprises aiming to build a robust, future-proof IT landscape that supports continuous innovation. By refactoring applications and leveraging cloud native disciplines and practices, businesses can unlock unprecedented levels of agility, scalability and resilience.” 

As the use of the cloud continues to be strategically vital to many organisations, cloud resources have become the biggest targets for cyber-attacks, with research earlier this year showing that cloud security spending now tops all other security spending categories, with many organisations choosing to revise their investments to meet these new security challenges.