Artificial intelligence is increasingly finding its way into the cloud, according to a report from KPMG which revealed that 97 per cent of companies in Germany that use cloud services obtain their AI (artificial intelligence) solutions from cloud providers.
The research report noted that the age of traditional data centers, on the other hand, seems to be “slowly coming to an end.”
The report from KPMG noted that merely 26 per cent or around a fourth of companies in Germany still currently use them for their AI solutions.
This is revealed by the “Cloud Monitor 2024”, for which KPMG surveyed over 500 Germany based companies “regarding their cloud usage.”
As mentioned in the research study, 98 per cent or pretty much all of the Germany based firms that were recently surveyed with 50 or more employees are “currently in the cloud.”
The research report released by KPMG further noted that most of them rely on hybrid cloud models that offer a “combination of public and private cloud solutions. 57 per cent of companies are pursuing the goal of increasing their own IT security with their cloud strategy.”
For almost half or around 50% of them, the ongoing digitalization of “internal processes and cost optimisation are important goals. 52% of companies are pursuing a cloud-first strategy and 23% want to switch completely to a cloud-only strategy.”
And 67 per cent of firms have achieved “high or very high” IT cost savings by using the cloud.
But, there is also the other side of the coin, according to the report covering Germany, which revealed that “21 per cent of large companies with 5,000 or more employees report increased IT costs due to cloud computing. 58 per cent of companies spend half or more of their IT budget on the cloud.”
In large firms with 5,000 or more workers, “as many as 64 per cent spend at least half of their IT budget on various cloud services.”
The report, focused on Germany, also mentioned that for 77 per cent of companies, the topic of ESG is “important or very important when using the cloud. For large companies with 5,000 or more employees, 84 per cent consider ESG aspects to be important or very important.”
And 67 per cent of companies have achieved “high or very high IT cost savings by using the cloud.”
About the “KPMG Cloud Monitor”:
The Cloud Monitor is a company survey that has been “conducted annually since 2012.”
The data for this year’s Cloud Monitor was collected via “computer-assisted web interviews (CAWI) in the period from June to July 2024.”
The sample size for the Cloud Monitor 2024 is said to comprise 503 German firms with at least 50 workers.
As clarified in the update from KPMG, the respondents were “managers from the Engineering, DevOps or IT/OT Operations, FinOps or Cloud Financial Management, Digitalization/Innovation, Finance or IT Controlling or Procurement departments, as well as members of the management or Executive Board.”
The target group was chosen in such a manner that both firms of different sizes and firms from different sectors are “sufficiently represented” in order to provide statistically “sound” results.