Cloud to become business necessity by 2028 - Gartner

Global public cloud services spending is set to total $679bn in 2024

By 2028, cloud computing will shift from being a technology disruptor to becoming a necessary component for maintaining business competitiveness, according to Gartner.

IT spending on public cloud services continues rising unabated. In 2024, worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to total $679bn and exceed $1tr in 2027.

"Organisations are actively investing in cloud technology for its potential to foster innovation, create market disruptions, and enhance customer retention to gain a competitive edge," said Milind Govekar, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner.

"While many organisations have started seizing the technical advantages of the cloud, only a few have unlocked its full potential in supporting business transformation. As a result, organisations use the cloud to launch a new wave of AI-driven disruption, enabling them to unlock business value at scale."

The role of cloud in 2023

Currently, most companies see the cloud as a technology platform. In 2023, organisations use cloud computing either as a technology disruptor or capability enabler.

Gartner predicts over 50 per cent of enterprises will use industry cloud platforms by 2028 to accelerate business initiatives. By 2028, most organisations will leverage the cloud as a business necessity.

Organisations using the cloud as a technology disruptor are harnessing its transformative potential to revolutionise non-cloud, datacentre-oriented computing approaches and technologies.

"As businesses navigate digital transformation, moving to the cloud becomes a key decision point," said Govekar.

Gartner also found companies adopting cloud technology as a capability enabler use its potential for things such as elasticity, rapid continuous integration/delivery (CI/CD), serverless functions, and AI-infused APIs and processes that were difficult pre-cloud.

To exploit these capabilities, organisations must evaluate factors like skills development, breaking down operational silos, and promoting team collaboration to seamlessly adopt automation, Gartner stated.

A business necessity

Over the next few years, Gartner said cloud computing will continue evolving from an innovation facilitator to a business disruptor and ultimately, a business necessity.

With cloud computing as an innovation facilitator, organisations can distribute platform business concepts widely using its underlying platform technology for interconnections, scale, aggregation and analysis capabilities. This allows using technology as a fundamental business model component.

"By leveraging the cloud provider ecosystem, organisations can introduce innovative products and services, like fraud prevention for second-hand cars from tyre manufacturers, or rapid vaccine development through cloud-based machine learning," said Govekar.

By 2028, most organisations will fully transform into digital entities capable of sensing and responding to business and market conditions.

"With the cloud becoming integral to business operations in 2028, CIOs and IT leaders will have to implement a highly efficient cloud operating model to achieve desired business objectives," Govekar concluded.

Earlier this year, IDC already forecasted global spending on public cloud services to reach $1.35tr in 2027.