Multicloud Evolution, Strategic Data Practices, and Commoditisation of AI

As organisations look ahead to an uncertain 2023, Rackspace Technology (NASDAQ: RXT), a leading end-to-end multicloud technology solutions company, predicts that the continued evolution of cloud strategies, the adoption of more sophisticated data management models and the commoditisation of artificial intelligence (AI) will be among the key trends driving companies’ IT agendas.

“We are living in a multicloud world, but the notion that enterprises must shift everything away from on-premises data centres and into the cloud is tired and unrealistic,” said Jeff DeVerter, Chief Technology Evangelist, Rackspace Technology. “Given the economic uncertainty organisations face as we enter the new year, we are seeing a greater focus on cloud transformation projects that can increase efficiency and deliver the greatest near-term ROI. The cloud is about far more than where your data resides – companies are approaching it as an opportunity to reimagine the software side of the business and accelerate innovation.”

According to the Rackspace Technology recent survey of global IT leaders, Managing IT in Challenging Economic Times, companies are becoming increasingly cloud-smart and analytical about their cloud usage. With cloud spending accounting for an increasingly large portion of overall IT spending, intelligently choosing the best strategy and home for each application is critical.

“Organisations learned lessons from what we would call Wave 1 of cloud transformation, have adjusted their approaches, and are now driving strategic multicloud as the next wave,” added Ben Blanquera, VP, Evangelist, and Senior Architect, Rackspace Technology.

Strategic Data Management in 2023

To succeed in 2023, Rackspace Technology also recommends that chief data officers should begin thinking about developing a data “playbook” that focuses on prudent, secure data management strategies and best practices while at the same time engaging analytics and transformational processes to drive growth. Data experts must play offense and defence with data strategy, balancing growth with moderation.

“A key part of building a sound data strategy and a strong data-management function is relying on strategies that can be viewed as either growth-driven or risk-mitigating,” said Blanquera. “CDOs must focus on instituting data best practices while also engaging analytics to propel the transformational processes that drive growth. Simply put, organisations must ensure that data is reliable and capable of gathering actionable data.”

Infrastructure Resiliency and Platform Engineering

2023 will also be a time for organisations to focus inward on improving the resiliency of business-critical initiatives by modernizing for stability, scale, security, or repeatability and reliability of deployments. “Investments in resiliency,” said Justin Kuss, Cloud Architect, Developer, and Evangelist, Rackspace Technology, “could pay dividends for years to come.”

Kuss also predicts that Platform Engineering will leapfrog “DevOps” by the end of 2023. “Companies will jump into platform engineering to increase the efficiency of their engineers,” he added. “Platform teams will leverage automation and abstraction to help organisations adopt new technologies and codify organisational policies and practices.”

The Commoditisation of AI

Finally, 2023 will see the continued growth of AI across all areas of the business.

“AI has continued to develop in sophistication over the past decade and is now on the cusp of becoming omnipresent in our day-to-day life, as evidenced by the mainstream adoption of ChatGPT,” noted Nirmal Ranganathan, Chief Architect, Data & AI, Rackspace Technology. “An increasing number of products and solutions will incorporate AI-driven decision support as an integral component of their offerings, paving the path for the commoditisation of AI.”