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Cloud Opportunity Watch: Industry data to supercharge your strategy

Cloud: The competitive engine to AI success

AI is creating noise just about everywhere — across industries, in professional and personal life, on mainstream media and beyond. This is not new news. But what’s central to the AI story is the cloud. Cloud computing is the fabric of IT; it influences the entire technology industry and is fundamental to AI success.

With enterprises across industries storing nearly two-thirds (62%) of their data in the cloud,1 your customers must leverage efficient, optimised cloud-enabled solutions to incorporate AI into their operations successfully and reach their AI goals. Notably, 69% of enterprises plan to deploy AI via a SaaS public cloud partner, according to IDC.2 Allocating cloud investments is a delicate balance between achieving the goals of the business and gaining an edge in the race to AI adoption.

 

Enterprises across industries store 62% of their data in the cloud.

69% of enterprises plan to deploy AI via a SaaS public cloud partner.

Cloud investment: A core force for competitiveness 

When it comes to spending, cloud will account for 67% of core IT spending in 2028, up from 53% in 2024 with AI adoption driving this expansion.3 Many organisations are prioritising strategic investments in hybrid and private cloud models. Combining public and private cloud capabilities, hybrid cloud improves flexibility and scalability. At the same time, cloud repatriation — shifting data, apps and workloads from public environment back to an on-prem infrastructure or private cloud — is highly prevalent given the demand for AI. Repatriation can help optimise and better manage costs, enhance performance, and retain greater control over sensitive data. The large majority (85%) of organisations have repatriated some portion of their cloud-deployed applications or workloads.4 The two primary drivers of repatriation are workload and application performance (31%) and security (30%).4 

That said, over three-quarters of tech decision-makers plan to increase public and private cloud spending in the next 12 months, according to Forrester’s Budget Planning Guide for 2026.5 GenAI is driving increased spending on public and private cloud services to enhance performance and access advanced tools.  
As organisations push to integrate AI into day-to-day operations, cloud-enabled solutions are expanding in breadth, speed and optimisation. Investments in cloud help enable your customers to remain competitive. AI is driving this expanded spending on cloud. In parallel, software consumption is moving toward service-based delivery. Over 60% of 2024 software spending was based on as-a-service delivery, with AI-infused and AI agent-led apps further accelerating the shift, according to IDC.3  

  


By 2027, AI’s compute and data demands will compel 80% of organizations to modernize legacy cloud environments.

Meeting the demands of AI 

End customers need channel partner support across the full customer lifecycle, including navigating multicloud environments. In fact, IDC predicts that by 2027 the massive computation and data demands of AI will compel 80% of organisations to modernise legacy cloud environments by shifting to new platforms specifically designed for AI workloads.6 What’s driving that modernisation are unintended consequences of running AI on legacy systems, such as increased costs, lower performance and lack of innovation. Additionally, cloud resilience efforts — such as load balancing, disaster recovery failover and backups — are being prioritised, and 84% of enterprise public or private cloud decision makers whose primary role is architecture reported their organisation is addressing cloud workload resilience, Forrester reports.7 Shifting from legacy environments is a strategic imperative and organisations that take action will realise a competitive edge.  

Faster development and deployment enables organisations to demo and test their AI solutions and get to market sooner. While modernising legacy cloud environments will be instrumental in remaining competitive, organisations need the right skill sets to support the transition away from legacy systems. Machine learning operations (MLOps), data engineering and guidance on data storage will be invaluable and your customers may be looking for a partner that can offer those skills.  

Channel partners will facilitate nearly 60% of all marketplace transactions by 2030.

Navigating marketplaces
 

Cloud marketplaces are on the rise and end-customers still need guidance through those purchase decisions and navigating the evolving market. Omdia projects enterprise software sales through hyperscaler cloud marketplaces, such as AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud, to grow five-times over, surging from $30 billion in 2024 up to $163 billion by 2030.8 Procurement via marketplaces and the rise of agentic AI sales is largely shaping this growth. Omdia also predicts that by 2030, channel partners will facilitate nearly 60% of all marketplace transactions helping customers manage their commitments, purchase across multiple marketplaces and provide expertise and support across the full customer lifecycle.8

 

Optimising FinOps

Hybrid cloud remains essential to organisations’ cloud strategy. As cloud complexity increases and AI-driven spending rises, consider FinOps services and expertise as an opportunity worth exploring and offering to your customers. Many end customers need FinOps support and guidance on how to mature, optimise and maintain both public and private clouds. In 2024, approximately 74% of cloud decision makers said that their organisation either has adopted or plans to adopt a FinOps practise in the next 12 months.9 Where should the FinOps practise focus? According to the FinOps Foundation, there’s more to it than reducing costs. While optimising workloads and reducing waste is the top priority, full allocation of cloud spending and accurate forecasting of spend are also important.10 FinOps is taking on a bigger role in the organisation — moving from cloud spend optimisation to shaping how broader technology investments are planned, governed and valued by the organisation.

 

74% of cloud decision makers said their organization has adopted a FinOps practice or plans to in the next 12 months.

 

Conclusion

Cloud continues to play a critical role in organisations’ digital transformation and AI journey. Your customers need an advisor to help them navigate their cloud initiatives and maximise their investments. As the leading AI and hybrid cloud aggregator, Arrow can help you be that strategic advisor. We offer a variety of services and solutions to augment your capabilities. Contact us to discuss your cloud growth strategy.

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Platform

Simplify the complexity of multicloud environments for your customers and seamlessly accelerate the growth of your cloud business. ArrowSphere is a single, centralised platform to access technology solutions from leading vendors on our portfolio. With FinOps, SecOps, GreenOps and AI 360 dashboards — as well as a GenAI assistant built right in, you’re able to view a holistic picture of cloud use so you can guide customers in maximising cloud investments.

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Services

Complement your in-house capabilities and offer complete solutions. Arrow’s services, including managed, support, professional and education, help support you end-to-end throughout the customer lifecycle.

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Solutions

 Access the optimal technology solutions to meet the unique needs of each customer. As a distributor, Arrow is vendor-agnostic and our portfolio includes access to leading and emerging vendors.

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Technical expertise

Get expertise and technical guidance to find the right solution for your customers. Work alongside Arrow’s technical engineers and architects who know the ins and outs of different vendor technologies and solutions and what works well together.

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Immersive experiences

Demo, test and prove solutions in Arrow’s experience centers. Simulate a real-world environment and build solutions that precisely suit your customers’ requirements. Our channel partners achieve a  90% close rate when using the experience centers.

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Programmes

Advance your skills through specialised training and certification opportunities. Keep up to date on AI skills with our AI accelerator program.  

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Sources

  1. Forrester’s Data and Analytics Survey, 2025
  2. IDC, Market Analysis Perspective: Worldwide Intelligent Cloud and Edge Operations with FinOps, 2025, #US52809125, October 2025
  3. IDC, Worldwide Whole Cloud Forecast, 2025–2028, #US51736924, March 2025
  4. IDC, Workload Repatriation Trends and Drivers, July 2025, Doc #US53648525
  5. Forrester, Budget Planning Guide 2026: Technology Executives, July 2025
  6. IDC FutureScape: Worldwide IT Industry 2026 Predictions, #US53858725, October 2025
  7. The State Of Cloud Resilience, 2026, Forrester
  8. Omdia, Hyperscaler cloud marketplace sales to hit $163 billion by 2030, October 2025
  9. Forrester, The Cloud Cost Management And Optimization Solutions Landscape, Q3 2025, August 2025
  10. FinOps Foundation, The State of FinOps 2026 Report, 2026