Appetite for the potential of AI projects is at an all-time high, according to research conducted by the Cloud Industry Forum, which revealed that 42% of businesses now consider it to be their most important IT project, ranking ahead of other considerations such as security, IT sustainability (both 40%) and controlling costs (38%).

AI’s prominence in modern business is also supported by the finding that 96% of organisations believe AI will be at least somewhat important to their organisation in the next five years. This figure is a significant increase from 2023, when 86% of organisations reported the same.

David Terrar, CEO of the Cloud Industry Forum, said: “The past 12 months have served as a welcome opportunity for businesses to do some of the dirty work that often comes with AI implementation, before they can reap its rewards. It has long been clear that getting the best out of AI requires time, effort and resources. Collecting the right data and ensuring that enough of it is available to train models, for example, can be a long and laborious task. Most organisations seem to be wise to this now.

“Elsewhere, businesses have also had new legislation and regulations to contend with as lawmakers have made strides to keep the progress of AI in check. Now though, businesses have had time to get to grips with these new regulations and are firmly on their way to AI implementation, if they haven’t implemented already.”

Though AI projects are not limited to generative AI, it remains a popular form of adoption. 94% of organisations report that they are either planning to or are already using generative AI. Specifically, 62% of businesses report that it is already in use across at least some parts of their organisation.

For many businesses, the motivations for adoption are clear. Ninety-six percent of respondents in this year’s report said that generative AI will or has already benefited their organisation, including improving data analytics (46%), customer service (45%) and/or products and services (43%).

Cloud Remains a Key Focus

This Cloud Industry Forum survey indicates that cost remains one of the most common motivations for cloud adoption. Given the circumstances facing businesses, this comes as little surprise.

Thirty-three percent of respondents said that cloud-based services allow for greater flexibility in IT spend, while a further 30% highlighted that cloud promises significant overall savings.

Elsewhere, the need for agility, scalability and flexibility offered by cloud are highlighted as common reasons for adopting the technology.

Thirty-two percent of respondents said that cloud allows their business to be more agile, while 29% said that it offers them the ability to scale easily. Perhaps crucial to these efforts, 24% also said that cloud offers them the ability to test new technology that was previously unaffordable or too complex.

Among participants in the survey, 57% of respondents said they are utilising Amazon Web Services (AWS), 51% are using Microsoft Azure, and another 51% are incorporating IBM’s cloud solutions. Additionally, 39% of the surveyed organisations reported using Google Cloud, while 28% and 18% have adopted Oracle and Salesforce, respectively.

Organisations appear divided in their approach to cloud technology and data management. Equal proportions of respondents, 49% each, indicated a preference for either a cloud-first or a hybrid approach. A small minority, 2%, continue to rely solely on on-premises technology.

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In terms of infrastructure, 37% of businesses reported that 40-60% of their IT infrastructure is hosted in the cloud. Meanwhile, 29% of respondents indicated that they host 60-80% of their IT assets on cloud platforms. These figures underscore the growing reliance on cloud solutions across various industries.

Terrar concluded: “For cloud service providers in particular, generative AI can and will be an important tool for improving their offerings in several ways. Not only will it assist in personalising offerings for users, but it will also help potential customers to better understand what cloud can do for them.

“For vendors, generative AI will be vital in offering innovative solutions to challenges that have historically been complex, which will help optimise workloads and unlock new opportunities for growth.”