NTT DATA has released a sweeping new report titled Cloud-led innovation in the era of AI: The new rules for driving value with cloud, based on a survey of over 2,300 senior decision-makers across 33 countries. The headline finding is stark — despite nearly two decades of cloud adoption, just 14% of organizations have reached the highest level of cloud maturity.

The Core Paradox

The report exposes a critical disconnect that should worry every enterprise IT leader. While 99% of organizations say AI is increasing demand for cloud investment, 88% say their current cloud investment levels are actively putting AI, cloud-native, and modernisation initiatives at risk — a gap that signals ambition is running far ahead of execution.

Key Stat	Finding
Enterprises at highest cloud maturity	14%
Organizations saying AI increases cloud investment needs	99%
Organizations saying investment levels put AI plans at risk	88%
Legacy apps holding back innovation	50% say yes
Cloud leaders highly confident in security	68%
Others highly confident in security	36%
Expected sovereign cloud growth in 2 years	50% increase
AI used in last cloud migration (cloud leaders)	47% vs 35% others

Six Rules for Getting Cloud Right in the AI Era

NTT DATA outlines six imperatives every enterprise must address to turn cloud into a genuine AI enabler rather than a bottleneck. Cloud and AI strategies must be developed in tandem — CAIOs are 22% more likely than CIOs and CTOs to acknowledge AI’s impact on cloud investment needs, highlighting a dangerous misalignment at the leadership level.

Architecture decisions now directly determine outcomes, with nearly all organizations expecting private cloud growth and sovereign cloud adoption projected to rise 50% in just two years. Meanwhile, legacy applications and data platforms remain the biggest innovation barrier, with modernisation emerging as the top cloud priority for the next two years.

The report also calls for a platform-led approach — more than half of organisations cite cloud cost management challenges, and a threefold increase in fully managed cloud platforms is expected. Security tops the investment priority list, yet confidence levels are dramatically split: 68% of cloud leaders report high security confidence versus just 36% of the broader group.

Charlie Li, President and Global Head of Cloud and Security at NTT DATA, stated that cloud has moved beyond infrastructure and is now the execution layer for AI — and organisations that fail to evolve their cloud foundations risk constraining the growth and value of their AI investments entirely. Download the full report at nttdata.com and follow the latest in enterprise tech at TechnoSports.