Gerard Grant, director of strategic initiatives at TCS Ireland. Image: Gerard Grant
Despite macroeconomic headwinds, a TCS survey has found that Irish executives are increasingly investing in cloud technologies as AI adoption continues to grow.
With global tech companies across industries now racing to incorporate AI and machine learning in their business, access to cloud services that allow for the bandwidth to work with large amounts of data and scalability remains crucial.
Cloud technologies have dramatically impacted how businesses operate. They allow businesses to grow and scale quickly, innovate at lightning speed and even expand into new markets.
In December, the London Stock Exchange – one of the oldest in the world – struck a £2.3bn 10-year deal with Microsoft to use its cloud services to transform its data and analytics business.
Irish businesses in particular have been investing in the technology for long-term growth and resilience. A recent survey conducted by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has revealed that cloud remains a long-term investment priority for 74pc of major corporations in Ireland.
This is despite ongoing macroeconomic headwinds that have been slowing down the growth of global cloud providers.
Ireland ahead in cloud adoption
Published today (15 June), the report based on a survey of 972 senior executives from around the world – including 102 respondents from Ireland and the UK – found that innovation is one of the leading drivers of cloud adoption.
70pc of Irish respondents say cloud is crucial for innovation in their organisation’s future, significantly ahead of the global average of 59pc.
Especially in the field of artificial intelligence, 79pc of Irish executives surveyed said they have invested in AI and machine learning over the past two years as the nascent technologies continue to transform the way businesses function.
What’s more, a whopping 83pc said they plan to continue to invest in AI and machine learning over the next two years.
“Despite the challenging economic climate, a majority of large enterprises in Ireland are prioritising long-term investment in the cloud to power innovations such as AI and drive new business models,” said Gerard Grant, director of strategic initiative at TCS Ireland.
“Ireland is already making progress when it comes to industry-specific cloud deployments and achieving their sustainability goals. We expect to see an acceleration of innovation, as more businesses start to leverage cloud technologies for long-term growth and profitability.”
In interview last year, Grant told SiliconRepublic.com that people considering career changes in tech should focus on areas with “really high demand right now” such as cloud or cyber.
Generative AI and quantum computing
All the Irish executives that participated in this study by the Indian IT giant represent major companies based in the country with annual revenues exceeding $1bn.
While a comfortable majority of the respondents said they have invested appropriately in cloud, around one in 10 said they have under-invested in cloud-based technologies.
As a collective market, Ireland and the UK seem to be ahead of the rest of the world in leveraging cloud for industrial applications. However, critical skills shortages continue to affect businesses in the cloud space, with more than half of the respondents saying they lack in-house proficiency.
According to Krishnan Ramanujam, president of enterprise growth at TCS, early cloud adoption is driven by a desire for greater efficiency and flexibility among companies.
“Cloud is now the unifying digital fabric of every enterprise, fuelling powerful technologies – from generative AI to edge and quantum computing – and is ushering the next wave of innovations now and into the future,” he said.
“Businesses now more fully understand how cloud drives business growth and innovation for the long-term, and for most, the journey is only just getting started.”
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