The Rise of GenAI and the Year of Planning – Cloud Predictions 2024

What does the year hold for organisations leveraging secure cloud technologies in 2024? In this blog our Public Cloud Product Manager Reece Gohil takes us through his cloud predictions for 2024.

I am sure we were all in plenty of meetings over the course of 2023 during which generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technologies became the topic of the conversation, whether it was discussing the capabilities of Azure OpenAI, the power of ChatGPT, or the exciting launch of Microsoft Copilot. Many organisations are eagerly discussing how these tools can drive value into their businesses, whether through improving productivity or driving customer experience to name just a couple of the many benefits.

As the technological landscape evolves with the rise of GenAI, businesses are entering an era where the effective management of data, the need for skilled resources, and the optimisation of existing environments become of paramount importance. Therefore, my predictions for 2024 are focused on the subsequent demands GenAI will have on the wider organisation to prepare for using these tools every day.

The Need for Structured Data

Organisations will need to focus on enhancing their data governance strategies in 2024, ensuring the availability, reliability, and security management of data. GenAI thrives on data, and as businesses integrate AI capabilities into their cloud environments, the importance of effective data management will be the key to the success of getting true value out of GenAI technologies. Organisations will find themselves needing to manage, analyse, and store larger volumes of data, leading to a greater reliance on data quality and ensuring data is structured to allow actionable insights from the data ingested into GenAI tools.

The Need for AI Talent

Embedding GenAI into cloud platforms will lead to a surge in demand for talent capable of managing and integrating the complexities of AI-driven systems. There will be a growing need for skilled professionals who can tackle the power of GenAI to tailor cloud services to individual user requirements, to ensure it drives the productivity and desired outcomes. This will drive a greater demand on organisations preparing for this shift and require additional skills to manage cloud technologies, leading to a greater need for investment in training, reskilling, or additional recruitment to build teams focused on managing complex AI-driven cloud environments.

The Need for Evergreen Optimisation

The integration of GenAI into cloud services will put greater focus on the need for optimisation across all aspects of cloud computing and driving cost efficiencies within organisations’ cloud expenses. GenAI offers a number of exciting opportunities for efficiencies and business value to organisations. However, the implementation can lead to increased resource consumption and, consequently, escalating costs. To prevent budgetary constraints, organisations must adopt a proactive and evergreen approach to optimising their cloud environments to avoid risks of costs spiralling out of control. Investing in cost optimisation tools and regular reviews of cloud environments can drive cost efficiencies by helping to analyse usage patterns, identifying inefficiencies and providing recommendations for improvements.

What’s Next on Your Cloud Journey?

Overall, as GenAI becomes more embedded into cloud computing there will be an even greater shift in seeing the value IT can drive as a strategic enabler for business goals, helping redefine the power GenAI and cloud computing can bring to an organisation. Organisations that embrace this and start to look to invest in data management, AI talent, and cost optimisation will be well-positioned to unlock the full power of GenAI into their everyday businesses over the coming years.

Wherever you are on your cloud journey, Six Degrees has the expertise, resources, and vendor relationships to enable you to gain cloud control and maximise your investment in cloud, always ensuring your cloud aligns to your wider business goals.

Speak to our experts about how we can support you on your cloud journey today.