ChatGPT brought AI to the attention of the general public, making it the talk of 2023 with promises of more innovative, smart, and efficient work. However, the extent to which the average company can fulfill these promises in the coming year remains a big question. In 2024, the focus will be on data security, flexibility, and delivery reliability. While technology like AI can be used for these purposes, there’s still a need for groundwork before it can be meaningfully deployed.
Executing Swift Delivery
Both in the consumer market and the business world, there is a movement towards faster delivery driven by the growing expectations of consumers in their online purchases. These expectations extend to cloud propositions and server solutions. Looking ahead, there is a renewed emphasis on long-term strategies, which makes flexibility of offerings and cost predictability crucial. The key question is whether a provider can adapt to what a company needs, whether it’s scaling down or scaling up.
The industry is moving towards hybrid solutions. The trend of ‘everything in the cloud’ is over; it’s now about combining various solutions to achieve optimal results. The transition to hyperscalers is sometimes seen as a threat to the traditional hosting industry, however, there will still be a significant market for the web hosting industry in the coming years as they can work more personally and come up with tailored solutions. Specific workloads require specific approaches, such as dedicated servers for certain tasks, cloud solutions for others, and various storage solutions to match. This leads to a diverse landscape of services where companies need to choose carefully based on their specific needs.
Groundwork for Your AI Strategy
AI can play a role here. To make AI work well in a business context the basic data needs to be in order, which is not the case for many companies. In the coming year, we need to focus more on the less glamorous work of organizing data to make AI applications useful. Data sovereignty, privacy, and security play essential roles; you must know where your data is located. Additionally, there’s the sustainability issue; AI is still in its infancy but already consumes a considerable amount of power. We need to think about this by providing the right infrastructure solutions.
The necessity to address these issues is also driven by European legislation. From 2024, companies must comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA). These laws aim to create a safer digital environment while leaving room for growth and innovation. Based on the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) that has come into effect, companies must also track their environmental, social, and governance metrics to evaluate how sustainable they are.
In summary, companies in the coming year are compelled to find a balance between embracing new technologies and complying with regulations. The diverse landscape of services requires a thoughtful approach, in which both traditional hosting and hyperscalers will have a place. If we want to fulfill the promises of AI and technological advancement, we need to invest thoroughly in the foundation of our data infrastructure and responsible business practices. This is not the most glamorous work, but crucial, nonetheless.