A total of 93% of IT managers in Ireland surveyed plan to increase cloud investment next year, while 95% aim to boost AI investment.
Red Hat, a leading provider of open-source solutions, has announced new survey results highlighting key drivers for cloud and AI strategies among IT managers in Ireland over the next 18 months.
The research surveyed 300 IT managers from large businesses (500+ employees) across Ireland. It explores the priorities and challenges they face as they navigate cloud complexity and execute AI strategies.
Robbie Byrne, Country Manager, Ireland, Red Hat, said: “We believe that having greater choice, flexibility and independence at a platform level is going to be crucial for businesses looking to harness AI’s potential and navigate unknown disruption ahead.”
A total of 93% of IT managers surveyed say their organisation plans to increase investment in cloud technology by 2025, with a majority of these (43%) planning growth by 5%-20% and 38% planning growth by 21%-50%, while 10% plan an increase of 51% or more.
The top priority for cloud strategy for the next 18 months is cost optimisation, cited by 71% of respondents. This is followed closely by cloud-native application development and DevOps (67%); security, compliance and sovereignty regulatory requirements (67%); and moving to hybrid/multi cloud, reducing dependence on a single provider (67%).
Investment in AI is set to increase over the next year for 95% of organisations, according to respondents, with a majority (42%) planning an increase in the range of 5%-20% and 33% planning a 21%-50% increase, while 19% plan an increase of 51% or more.
All IT managers surveyed see benefits in adopting enterprise open-source solutions for AI, including predictive and generative. Enhanced agility in hybrid cloud environments is seen as the top advantage (31%), with improved ecosystem collaboration and integration coming in second place (30%).
“The survey results reflect the challenging dynamics we are seeing with our customers: a keen focus on innovation as they look to drive their Digital Transformation to the next level, while also needing to optimise costs,” added Byrne.
“Contemporary technologies such as automation, AI and cloud-native applications can bring efficiencies, but there are also headwinds such as internal silos, skills gaps and in some cases a lack of access to the right IT platforms. “We believe that having greater choice, flexibility and independence at a platform level is going to be crucial for businesses looking to harness AI’s potential and navigate unknown disruption ahead. We also see enterprise open-source playing a more important role than ever as organisations seek agility in a hybrid world.”
