Relentless demands in the business landscape, including industry changes, cost pressures, client preference shifts and competitive threats, have accelerated the drive for technology advancement. In charting the path for business transformation, the cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) – including generative AI – and data analytics have emerged as key success drivers. 

Individually, these technologies promise to boost productivity, increase efficiency and spark innovation. But the real magic comes by combining all three. 

Imagine an environment where the cloud seamlessly integrates with AI and data analytics, creating a powerful three-pronged asset that unlocks your organization’s full value. Together, the cloud, AI and data analytics form the “secret sauce” that can maximize the transformative impact and offer a competitive edge, scale and agility. 

Industry perspective

Unisys surveyed more than 2,200 business and technology leaders on technologies. These findings spotlight the value of bundling the cloud, AI and data analytics. Consider these statistics from Unisys’ “From Barriers to Breakthroughs: Unlocking Growth Opportunities with Cloud-Enabled Innovation” report:  

• Organizations further along in their AI progress are more likely to say data has improved their decision-making (84% ready vs. 77% not ready) and that it has provided a high ROI (82% vs. 78%). 
• Yet 85% plan on increasing their cloud spend of the previous year (37% significantly, 28% increasing, 20% initiating)
• Adding to the pressure of expectations, 57% of C-suite executives expect to see some return on investment in year one.

With an eye toward achieving successful outcomes, here are three strategies to maximize the value from the cloud, AI and data analytics:

#1: Let business strategy and vision guide your cloud approach

Sometimes, you hear the term “cloud first,” but that’s leading with technology. It’s best to be “business first,” then determine how the cloud helps you achieve the company’s strategic ambition. The cloud journey can then encompass a wider ecosystem, integrating data analytics and AI into the strategic approach, which could act as an accelerator.

Starting with a deep understanding of company vision drives business alignment, support and motivation, which can accelerate cloud maturity and speed goal attainment. As cloud maturity progresses, you can benefit even further from the combination of these three technologies. Migrating to the cloud is not simply about adoption. It takes a mindset and culture shift.

#2: Build your case for optimizing your cloud investment

The next step in advancing the journey is gaining agreement from the C-suite or board for the investment. It has proven most effective to reinforce the value of the business outcomes delivered by new cloud capabilities using terms with meaning to them (i.e. sales increase, supply chain transformation, cost reductions, new customer channel, customer upselling). 

Once started with the cloud, other elements of the secret sauce can evolve more naturally. This can facilitate a smoother adoption process while enhancing the narrative of the benefit of your cloud investment. Getting buy-in is always easier when tied to the organization’s success.

It’s also helpful to share risks and setbacks to avoid, especially the challenge of reverting to old systems and pre-cloud processes, which typically results in lost momentum and cost overruns. If your organization is already in the cloud, it’s sound business sense to optimize it, which is where AI and data analytics can act as a multiplier toward increasing the ROI.

#3: Up-skill employees on modern technologies

The final step, and a common stumbling block, is having sufficiently skilled talent to manage these three technologies as an integrated effort. Many organizations lack the capacity or the recruiting organization to attract all of the talent needed, especially given the industry-wide talent gap.

While acquiring new talent may still be necessary, re-skilling and up-skilling existing employees can decrease recruitment costs and project delays. In our survey, leaders indicated that training teams on new skills and technology are their top talent challenge (40%), followed by transferring knowledge among employees (32%) and evolving technical skills that require new training (32%).

Boosting effectiveness requires an open mind in terms of the talent pool. Your next IT member could be a finance, marketing or sales employee. They could have no degree but a keen, curious mind and an aptitude for learning skills. Invest in your employees and the return comes back with vested engagement.

Learn how leaders approach technology

The organizations best equipped to advance their transformation will be those integrating the cloud, data analytics and AI. These combined technologies are the secret sauce for major impact. Learn how CIOs and other enterprise leaders handle technology adoption in the “From Barriers to Breakthroughs: Unlocking Growth Opportunities with Cloud-Enabled Innovation” report.