68% of the corporate leaders surveyed by IBM have implemented appropriate policies concerning generativeAI.
As reported in November by The Harris Poll on behalf of the IBM Institute for Business Value, 68% of companies utilizing cross-cloud platforms have established official, enterprise-wide guidelines related to relationalAI. The Cloud Transformation Report, released on November 20, monitored trends at the convergence of cross-cloud technology, conceptual AI, sustainability, and technical expertise.
In the months of May and June 2023, a survey was conducted involving 3,018 IT and business decision-makers across 12 states and spanning 23 industries.
Generative AI tasks are facilitated through cross-cloud platforms.
The utilization of cross-cloud infrastructure is pivotal for IBM as it can support relational AI workloads, contingent upon organizations having a well-defined strategy in place for this purpose.
In an email exchange with TechRepublic, Rohit Badlaney, the general manager of IBM’s cloud product and industry platforms group, emphasized that the effectiveness of generative AI technology hinges on organizations possessing the requisite skills and infrastructure for deploying and leveraging compute-intensive technologies. To align with their conceptual AI approach, organizations are advised to articulate their AI strategy and establish clear, enterprise-wide directives.
The report highlights that 73% of technology leaders in government, 69% in manufacturing, and 68% in consumer goods sectors are already implementing generative AI strategies. Conversely, sectors like plan, life science, electronics, banking and financial markets, and electrical have been relatively slower in embracing enterprise-wide conceptual AI strategies.
Note: TechRepublic’s comprehensive guide on cross-cloud solutions is highly recommended.
IBM offers a service encompassing the watsonx application running on IBM Cloud along with GPU options. Other companies such as Amazon, Google, SAP, and Databricks also provide similar infrastructure and services.
According to Badlaney, the exponential growth of data across multiple clouds from various vendors, on-premises, and at the edge necessitates that businesses looking to scale AI effectively must account for data distribution. Effective adoption hinges on data management and workload placement.
Guidance for IT leaders on integrating relational AI into their cloud environment
Technology leaders can harmonize conceptual AI with their organization’s existing cloud strategy by following these steps:
- Develop a comprehensive organizational strategy for integrating relational AI with other digital transformation initiatives.
- Consider migrating sensitive workloads from public to private or on-premises clouds if required for security or compliance reasons.
- Address security concerns associated with relationalAI implementation.
Business leaders should prioritize defining the desired outcomes from relational AI.
Before laying the groundwork for integrating and deriving outputs from AI, leaders must have a clear understanding of the existing power dynamics and data backup and operational requirements. This understanding enables them to devise a comprehensive plan aligned with performance, compliance, and security needs.
Trends in the adoption of relational AI and composite cloud solutions mirror each other.
Both cross-cloud platforms and conceptual AI encounter similar challenges. 45% of surveyed cloud executives expressed concerns about adopting conceptual AI due to security, privacy, and confidentiality issues.
Sustainability is a critical aspect of business technology.
According to Badlaney, responsible computing is no longer a luxury but a necessity for business clients.
Companies are faced with the dual challenge of enhancing sustainability while managing vast amounts of data, including conceptual AI tasks. Research by the IBM Institute for Business Value and The Harris Poll on cloud concerns revealed that 42% of global cloud leaders utilize the cloud to internally deploy, monitor, and manage sustainability objectives. Additionally, 36% believe that, compared to other technologies, the cloud will have the most significant impact on their sustainability strategy. A survey of numerous global cloud leaders (86%) indicated that open innovation among business partners is the primary driver of sustainable initiatives.
Hybrid clouds may align well with sustainability initiatives if renewable energy sources are integrated into the supply chain. Cloud computing enables the consolidation of physical infrastructure and more efficient operations in an ideal scenario.
Challenges persist regarding cloud expertise.
According to 58% of global decision-makers, sourcing individuals with the requisite cloud skills can be challenging. 72% of surveyed companies have introduced new initiatives to address the demand for cloud-related expertise. Industries with stringent regulations, such as banking and financial markets (79%), chemicals and petroleum (79%), and transportation and travel (81%), are even more inclined to create new roles to meet the demand for cloud skills. Upskilling employees can enhance their utilization of cutting-edge technologies like hybrid cloud and conceptual AI.
