New research shows critical role of cloud strategy in driving business innovation

HCLTech has launched a new report providing compelling insights into how organizations can overcome key obstacles like security concerns, talent gaps and company culture to maximize the business impact of their cloud investments. Titled “Cloud Evolution: Make Innovation a Habit,” the report is based on a survey of 500 senior business and technology leaders across industries.

The report revealed that while 73% of executives believe their companies are only beginning to leverage the potential of cloud, over 90% recognize cloud’s vital role in enabling rapid response to critical business events, strategic pivots and adopting leading-edge technologies like AI.

Cloud continues to enable businesses to pivot when faced with new and unforeseen challenges. As high as 87% of the respondents in the survey said that they would not have been able to make significant pivots last year without cloud. Businesses are relying on cloud to meet sustainability goals (91%), to work through pandemic-related staffing and supply chain issues (87%) and mitigate the impact of rising inflation (77%), showed the survey.

“Cloud is rapidly becoming the optimal business platform for innovation at scale,” said Kalyan Kumar, Global Chief Technology Officer & Head – Ecosystems, HCLTech. “However, many companies have yet to fully tap into its potential. This report offers a blueprint for developing the right cloud strategy to drive competitive advantage.”

The respondents agreed that innovative technologies like generative AI (GenAI) and cloud go hand-in-hand. Of the respondents, 58% noted that businesses have increased or are planning to increase investments in GenAI and 85% believe it is only possible with the right cloud strategy. Both IT leaders (86%) and business leaders (81%) agree that they closely collaborate with one another to discuss cloud strategy to unlock their potential to innovate.

However, 73% of the survey participants said that their business is only just beginning to unlock the potential of cloud. Nearly a third of the senior executives (32%) said that a lack of alignment and collaboration between business and technology departments is an obstacle to achieving their business goals.

“Forward-thinking leaders recognize that cloud is no longer just an infrastructure play but rather a transformational business platform,” said Siki Giunta, Executive Vice President, CloudSMART and Industry Consulting, HCLTech. “By following the recommendations in this report, organizations can truly unleash cloud’s potential to accelerate growth and resilience.”

To make innovation through cloud a norm, the report advises companies to leverage cloud’s agility, shape their organization’s culture around cloud, break down departmental barriers, increase cloud literacy and tightly align cloud strategy with AI and other emerging technology adoption plans.