The advent of the artificial intelligence (AI) era has already acted as a disruptive force on businesses, forcing them to reassess fundamental network structures and capabilities to support rapidly growing AI workloads, and while almost all businesses are still facing AI-related infrastructure challenges, the next evolution of this era is seeing improving security and resilience overtaking adding AI capabilities as the leading IT priority, says research from Colt Technology Services.
The study from the global digital infrastructure provider was undertaken by Intuit Research, which surveyed 1,020 IT decision-makers and influencers responsible for digital infrastructure services, from companies with annual revenue of over €500m and more than 1000 employees. 100 respondents were questioned in the US, UK, Germany, Spain and Hong Kong, in addition to 102 in Singapore, 103 in Japan, 104 in the Netherlands, 105 in Italy and 106 in France.
The standout of the research shows that a clear move in AI investment towards security and governance as AI continues to test the infrastructure beneath it, from cyber security and network traffic to bandwidth and latency.
Indeed, improving security and resilience was named as a top priority by 31% of businesses, while adding new AI and machine learning capabilities fell nine percentage points year-on-year to 25%, which compared with a similar study taken a year ago. More than one in three businesses (34%) is investing in cyber security and threat detection, while overall just under a third are investing in AI governance, risk and compliance.
Investment patterns were said to reinforce an evolution from innovation to governance. Even though businesses were still spending – 70% of businesses in the study expect technology budgets to grow over the next three years, with Asia driving this growth – priorities are shifting from adopting AI towards securing, governing and building the infrastructure needed to support it.
The study also showed this shift coming as AI puts increasing pressure on enterprise infrastructure. While 71% of businesses believe they are prepared for future AI-driven demands, 96% said AI is already creating infrastructure challenges as AI integration reshaped worldwide infrastructure demands.
Four in 10 businesses also cited greater cyber security exposure as a challenge, rising to 47% in Asia. Other challenges include increased network traffic at 39%, greater bandwidth requirements at 37%, increased cloud-connectivity requirements at 36%, and demand for lower latency and greater automation, both at 35%.
The data also revealed clear geographical and regional divides towards attitudes. That is, businesses questioned in Asia and Europe are directing AI investment towards protection and compliance, while US enterprises are placing greater emphasis on process optimisation and product innovation.
Regional differences also applied, “considerably” to business confidence. While 71% of businesses surveyed felt prepared to meet future AI infrastructure demands over the next two to three years, confidence rose to 77% in the US and 74% in the UK and Europe, compared with 64% in Asia.
Assessing the possible ramifications of the trends revealed by the research, Colt Technology Services chief operating officer Buddy Bayer noted that while the first phase of enterprise AI was about getting AI through the door, the next will be about making sure the infrastructure can cope when AI scales.
“Our research shows that AI is already testing the infrastructure beneath it, from cyber security and network traffic to bandwidth and latency,” he said. “Businesses may feel ready for AI, but confidence alone won’t carry the next wave of adoption. The winners will be those that build security, resilience and connectivity into their AI strategy from the start.”
