Cloud computing will account for 70% of global enterprise workloads by 2028, up from 25% today, according to Gartner, with issues such as sustainability, AI computing and data sovereignty playing a larger role. in the way Australian businesses use and acquire cloud providers.
At the Gartner Conference on IT Infrastructure, Cloud Operations and Strategies in Sydney, Dennis Smith, a leading cloud computing analyst, told Australian cloud computing executives that the cloud had gone from being a technology disruptor to a business disruptor and was now becoming an essential business.
“If you don't have a cloud strategy that's solid and you're not executing on it, you're putting your business at risk in many ways,” he said. “We've gone beyond being something you're dabbling with to something that really needs to be part of your much broader IT strategy.”
Gartner's seven cloud computing trend predictions for Australia and globally through 2028 were:
- More than half of current multicloud plans will not provide value in 2028.
- Cloud-native platforms will be the de facto way to deploy new applications.
- Cloud modernization will see 70% of workloads in cloud environments by 2028.
- Industrial clouds will be used by more than half of all cloud organizations.
- Multinationals will need to have a digital sovereignty strategy by 2028.
- Sustainability will become one of the top five procurement criteria for cloud providers.
- AI and machine learning will account for 50% of cloud computing by 2028.
In additional research released to coincide with the Australian cloud conference, Gartner predicted that Australian businesses would spend A$23.3 billion (US$15.4 billion) on public cloud in 2024, up 19.7% from 2023. Spending on software as a service will continue to increase. will be the largest category, rising 18.3% in 2023, to A$11 billion (US$7.2 billion) in spending.
1. More than half of current multicloud plans will not add value in 2028
Multicloud strategies will be high on customers' agendas in 2024, Smith said. However, while it is said that multicloud is not inherently a bad strategy, 50% or more of organizations will not realize the value they seek by 2028, often because “they are not always using multicloud for the right reasons.”
Smith said multi-cloud didn't always provide portability or resiliency if the applications themselves weren't designed and coded for those benefits. Multi-cloud may not be cheaper if customers have less pricing leverage with a cloud provider or need to spend on talent and tools to manage environments.
2. Cloud-native platforms will become the de facto way to deploy new applications
Gartner believes cloud-native platforms will be the default for building new applications by 2028, whether in the public cloud or in on-premises or hybrid environments. Smith described cloud-native platforms as those that “allow developers to get up to speed and develop code faster.”
“Think about the ability to build applications that are scalable, that are already instrumented, that have a nice, tight CI/CD (continuous integration and deployment) process, that provide the ability to implement some serverless functionality. Maybe a managed Kubernetes offering or another activity that makes it easier for me as a developer to code that application,” he said.
3. Cloud modernization will see 70% of Australian and global workloads in cloud environments by 2028.
Gartner said the focus on modernization by enterprises and cloud providers, as well as new emerging AI tools for modernization, such as tools that discover legacy systems or refactor notes, will see a dramatic shift in the ratio of cloud workloads, from 25% to 70%. %.
SEE: The five main advantages of cloud computing.
Australian research firm ADAPT found that highly modernized organizations in Australia already have 67% of their workloads in public clouds and predicted that 55% of overall workloads will be in public clouds by 2025, and that Larger organizations, in particular, will be more committed to cloud strategies. Hyperscalers like Microsoft have been investing in new cloud capacity.
“The rest will be within their existing data centers and so on. A key takeaway is that the future for most of you will be hybrid, so end up planning for that.” Smith added that the general concept of organizations simply moving everything to the cloud without examining applications is not the right way to go.
4. More than half of all organizations will accelerate the process with industrial cloud platforms
According to Gartner, there is a 50% or greater chance that organizations will use an industrial cloud platform by 2028. Smith described industrial clouds as a combination of an infrastructure platform and a SaaS offering, allowing a company to drive initiatives in an industry. , such as manufacturing or retail.
“There are numerous providers in this space, including hyperscalers. So end up anticipating this, especially if you are looking to gain a competitive advantage within your respective industries,” he told delegates at the Gartner conference.
5. Digital sovereignty issues will require multinationals to develop strategies by 2028
The multinationals where Australian cloud professionals work will need strategies around digital sovereignty by 2028, Gartner argued. Strategies will aim to have more control over technology, data or operations in national locations, or even take technology offline in some way.
“This is a very hot area among many of my clients in certain parts of the world, where they may be in countries and, frankly, they are a little hesitant to use a cloud provider across the ocean, or they may be afraid that there might be Some national issues can cause that to be disconnected,” Smith explained.
Australia's own dependence on US and Chinese technology has been noted. The Australian government admitted its dependence on the three US hyperscale clouds and was left stranded when Microsoft pulled out of a project that would have provided a “top secret” Australian sovereign cloud.
6. Sustainability will become one of the top five procurement criteria for cloud providers.
Gartner estimated that a quarter of organizations are already requesting sustainability information as part of the procurement process for cloud providers, with particular interest in the past three years. Smith said that figure would at least double over the next four years to become one of the top five criteria.
In 2024, Australia published a bill that would introduce mandatory climate-related reporting. These requirements would require reporting from larger companies with more than 500 employees, revenues exceeding A$500 million (US$331 million) or A$5 billion (US$3.3 billion) in fiscal year 2024 assets/ 25, with medium and small companies. companies that will continue in the next two years.
Smith noted that some cloud providers are already having to build data centers in adjacent countries if there are power consumption restrictions in the jurisdictions. He said that in the near future companies will ask suppliers for more transparency and will need to analyze the energy consumption of their own data centers.
7. AI and machine learning will account for 50% of cloud computing resource usage
The amount of cloud computing resources allocated to artificial intelligence and machine learning is about 10% today, but will increase fivefold, although other activities will not decrease. Smith said the industry would move from a “medium-sized pizza to a large pizza,” with 50% dedicated to artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Gartner vice president analyst Michael Warrilow said generative AI is becoming a key driver and differentiator for future cloud demands. “Australian CIOs must determine the best adoption model for their needs, whether that's building a model from scratch or focusing on AI capabilities that are built into the applications they purchase.”
Editor's note: TechRepublic covered Gartner's Cloud Strategies, Operations and IT Infrastructure conference remotely.
