An enabler for transformation: EY Global Cloud Implementation study

There is a heightened interest in cloud — an enabler for modern business priorities like AI, carbon emissions reduction and innovation.

In brief

• Indian organizations demonstrate an increasing commitment to digital transformation and innovation with 67% of surveyed companies currently migrating to cloud.
• 37% of Indian companies highlight AI and ML as crucial in driving product and service innovation and cloud as an enabler.
• 29% of organizations cite improved monitoring of carbon emissions with cloud implementation.

Cloud transformation in India is one of the top strategic priorities for organizations across all industry sectors. Viewed in its initial years as a part of technology strategy, cloud migration has grown in importance and maturity to becoming a strategic imperative of growth in an organization. With the ability for rapid scale-up, providing organizations the opportunity to access contemporary market innovations, cloud is likely to contribute $400 billion, accounting for nearly 8% of India’s GDP in the next two years and create millions of job opportunities. Cloud transformation in India has also holds potential to fuel AI adoption and digital transformation. Insights from the India findings of an EY Global Cloud Implementation Study underscore the country’s progress toward a digitally empowered ecosystem, where cloud and AI adoption are foundational to achieving innovation, security and efficiency. 

Incorporating AI and ML into business processes has become a transformative benefit, with 37% of Indian companies highlighting these technologies as crucial in driving product and service innovation following cloud migration. Notably, 90% of Indian organizations affirm that AI adoption would not have been feasible without migrating to the cloud, underscoring the cloud's role in India’s technological evolution.

Innovation emerges as a standout benefit of cloud-native development. 37% of Indian companies cited improved innovation as the primary advantage of natively developing in the cloud, compared to developing them on-premises and migrating them to the cloud. Followed by improved monitoring of carbon emissions with 29%.

Indian organizations face unique challenges and opportunities in cloud transformation. Only 25% of Indian companies, compared to 38% globally, view skills and capability gaps as a primary barrier to developing cloud-native applications. Instead, cybersecurity (24%) and budget constraints (29%) are the most significant hurdles for Indian enterprises. Understandably, many Indian organizations consider data privacy (39%) as an area of concern given that cybersecurity concerns have risen considerably in the last four to five years across sectors. However, IT teams may also demonstrate reluctance to cloud migrations and many organizations cite difficulties in changing mindsets within IT (35%) as a challenge.

Proving the return on investment (ROI) for cloud migration has been successful, with 91% of organizations reporting ease in demonstrating ROI to the C-suite. This alignment highlights a strong endorsement from top management for cloud initiatives in India, fueling further investments and advancements in the space.