The second annual Cloud Complexity Report released by NetApp shows a clear divide between AI leaders and AI laggards across several areas.
“The rise of AI is ushering in a new disrupt-or-die era,” said Gabie Boko, Chief Marketing Officer at NetApp. “Data-ready enterprises that connect and unify broad structured and unstructured data sets into an intelligent data infrastructure are best positioned to win in the age of AI.”
Rising IT costs and ensuring data security are the two biggest challenges in the AI era; the report added that this will not block AI progress. Instead, AI leaders will scale back, cut other IT operations, or reallocate costs from other parts of the business to fund AI initiatives.
AI leaders will also increase their cloud operations (CloudOps), data security and AI investments throughout 2024, with 40 per cent of large companies saying AI projects have already increased IT costs
Year over year, “increased cybersecurity risk” jumped 16 per cent as a top concern from 45 to 61 per cent, while all other concerns decreased. To manage AI project costs, 31 per cent of companies globally are reallocating funds from other business areas, with India (48 per cent), the UK (40 per cent), and the US (35 per cent) leading this trend.
The NetApp report looks at the experiences of global technology decision-makers deploying AI at scale and shows a stark contrast between AI leaders and AI laggards.
“AI is only as good as the data that fuels it,” said Pravjit Tiwana, General Manager and Senior Vice President of Cloud Storage at NetApp. “Both the AI leaders and AI laggards show us that in the prevailing hybrid IT environment, the more unified and reliable your data, the more likely your AI initiatives are to be successful.”
Close to 60 per cent of AI-leading countries (India, Singapore, UK, USA) have AI projects up and running or in the pilot, in stark contrast to 36 per cent in AI-lagging countries (Spain, Australia/New Zealand, Germany, Japan).
Technology leads with 70 per cent of AI projects up and running or in the pilot stage, while banking, financial services, and manufacturing follow with 55 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively. However, Healthcare (38 per cent) and Media and entertainment (25 per cent) are trailing.
Larger companies (with more than 250 employees) are more likely to have AI projects in motion, with 62 per cent reporting projects up and running or in pilot, versus 36% of smaller companies (with fewer than 250 employees).
Both AI leaders and AI laggards show a difference in their approach to AI. Globally, 67 per cent of companies in AI-leading countries report having hybrid IT environments, with India leading (70 per cent) and Japan lagging (24 per cent).
AI leaders are also more likely to report benefits from AI, including a 50 per cent increase in production rates, 46% in the automation of routine activities, and a 45 per cent improvement in customer experience.
“The rise of AI is ushering in a new disrupt-or-die era,” said Gabie Boko, Chief Marketing Officer at NetApp. “Data-ready enterprises that connect and unify broad structured and unstructured data sets into an intelligent data infrastructure are best positioned to win in the age of AI.”
