Businesses looking to make technological innovations view the cloud as a blank canvas upon which to build their new strategies.
In a new survey by Oracle, 62% of businesses in EMEA are looking to implement robotics technology, with 60% planning to work with artificial intelligence.
Most companies recognise that cloud infrastructure is integral to these plans, with 60% of companies believing it will allow them to capitalise on innovation.
Tim Jennings, chief research officer at Ovum said: “As businesses continue the process of digitisation, they require a flexible and scalable digital infrastructure to underpin this change.
“An integrated cloud platform that delivers both infrastructure services and platform services enables enterprises to quickly develop new business solutions, taking advantage of new digital technologies such as artificial intelligence.”
A large majority of businesses are on course in their plans to establish a single integrated cloud model across their organisation.
Currently, 8% of businesses have a fully integrated cloud model in place. However 36% say they are implementing one before the end of the year, with a further 40% expecting to do so in 2017. Only 5% of businesses have no intention of implementing the cloud.
Pascal Giraud, senior director IaaS Foundation & Cloud Platform Oracle EMEA said: “Despite an uncertain economic climate, businesses understand that at the speed of today’s market a first-mover advantage has never been more valuable.
“The dawn of Industry 4.0 is seeing companies fall into either an innovation fast lane or slow lane, and the rise of integrated cloud infrastructures mas made it cheaper and easier for businesses to outpace the competition.”