The level of cloud adoption in Latin America has reached 98% of companies. This impressive and encouraging statistic is just the beginning of the transformation journey. The recent report Cloud in Latin America 2023, developed by NTT DATA in collaboration with MIT Technology Review en español, gives an accurate overview of this technology in the region and encourages optimism, indicating that in the near future, we can expect even higher levels of innovation.
Organizations across the region are expected to multiply investments in the Cloud over the next three years, mainly by over 75%. Beyond the figures, this is a huge leap in maturity. The new initiatives focusing on the Cloud are no longer based on a technological approach but on how they can generate results and value for the business. This is about investing smarter and integrating it with business needs.
Thus, the primary idea that cloud adoption is to move the on-premises infrastructure from the data center to a more flexible, scalable, and manageable environment regarding costs and maintainability is no longer true. On the contrary, it is much more than that. It is the basis for developing new businesses and, especially, accelerating innovation. On the contrary, it is much more than that. It is the basis for developing new businesses and, especially, accelerating innovation.
The many benefits of the Cloud converge in efficiency, resilience, security, operational excellence, cost savings from infrastructure, improved time to market and impact on business model development, faster decision-making, and enhanced customer experience from a strategic point of view.
The road to maturity
Organizations need to have a business vision surrounding the potential of the Cloud and develop use cases with direct business impact to reach such maturity. It is important to understand that business can't wait. All these changes should be made "on the fly"; companies must rethink the main aspects of their cloud strategy, including data management, operating model, regulatory compliance, and business impact, while not holding back the business progress.
In the process, it is important to remember that mature cloud adoption implies a transformation of the operational model and how the company relates to customers and employees. That is why it is essential to manage the change and any potential barriers that it might cause among the people involved.
For all these reasons, it is essential to have an experienced strategic partner who can support this journey, guarantee results, and minimize risks.
From talent to optimization
The development of digital skills is essential to exploit and capitalize on the opportunities. This is not a minor issue. The lack of talent is one of the main barriers identified by Latin American organizations facing the challenges of extracting value from the Cloud. On this point, the technology ecosystem is taking responsibility for training, certification, and advanced certification, ensuring an increasing number of skilled people collaborate in these projects and providing greater expertise to all of them.
Continuous optimization of the Cloud is another critical point, covering multiple aspects: technological, financial, cultural, talent, and business results. Regular checks are necessary to confirm the attainment of planned goals. It is always necessary to check that planned goals are being achieved. The incorporation of FinOps practices becomes increasingly important in this area, in other words, performing cost optimization in cloud resource management. More than 80% of companies consider its implementation very significant.
We are not talking about options but about timing. This trend is unstoppable. Every Latin American company will eventually adopt and mature in the Cloud. However, companies that are first to adopt will have better opportunities to compete and lead in the future.