In today’s digital-first world, cloud computing has moved beyond being just a strategic tool – it has become the very infrastructure on which future-ready businesses are built. That’s the overarching message of HCLTech’s latest global survey report, Cloud Evolution: The Mandate to Modernize. By gathering insights from over 500 senior IT and business decision-makers across key global markets, the study sheds light on how enterprise cloud strategies are maturing, adapting and accelerating to meet the demands of a constantly evolving technological and economic environment.
This isn’t just another industry whitepaper. It is a timely and nuanced exploration of how enterprises are moving from merely adopting the cloud to actively reengineering their entire digital architecture around it. At the heart of this evolution is a potent combination: multicloud strategies, hybrid infrastructure, application modernisation and the rapid emergence of Generative AI (GenAI). Together, they are reshaping how organisations compete, operate and innovate – not in isolated efforts but through interconnected and systemic transformation.
For executives in the Middle East, this convergence of forces presents both a significant opportunity and a clear imperative. As the region pushes forward with national digital transformation agendas and sovereign cloud frameworks, the findings from this report offer a strategic roadmap to modernisation that is deeply relevant and immediately actionable. It is not just about adopting cloud; it is about integrating it as a central enabler of long-term competitiveness.
From accidental to intentional
The modern cloud landscape is complex, distributed and strategic. The report highlights that 87 per cent of enterprises are now engaging more than one cloud provider, with an average of three providers typically forming the core of their infrastructure. Crucially, this shift is no longer accidental. Organisations are becoming 2.2x more likely to implement a deliberate multicloud strategy than they were just three years ago.
This approach allows businesses to tap into the unique strengths of different cloud ecosystems – from compliance-ready sovereign clouds to AI-optimised services and scalable storage networks. By spreading workloads across providers, they mitigate vendor lock-in, optimise cost structures, and bolster resilience in the face of outages or performance limitations.
Multicloud is no longer a trend; it’s the new normal. It gives enterprises a stronger foundation for innovation, enabling them to adopt best-of-breed services for each use case. And as businesses seek greater interoperability and ecosystem flexibility, multicloud becomes a strategic asset rather than a risk.
Siki Giunta, Executive Vice President and Head of HCLTech’s Cloud Native Centre of Excellence, puts it bluntly: “Cloud is not just a technology investment; it is fundamental to how businesses modernise.” For the Gulf region, where regulated sectors like banking and government are exploring cloud with renewed urgency, this strategic diversification is critical to balancing innovation with compliance. As digitalisation becomes the backbone of economic diversification in countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, multicloud is poised to support national ambitions as much as corporate ones.
GenAI is driving cloud innovation – and hybrid demand
Artificial intelligence is no longer a futuristic side project. According to the report, 98 per cent of enterprises are already exploring custom GenAI solutions trained on their own proprietary data. These are not off-the-shelf models; they are deeply tailored to business-specific needs – from financial risk analysis to automated legal document review to intelligent retail forecasting.
However, the infrastructure story beneath GenAI is just as important. With 55 per cent of relevant data still hosted on-premises, cloud-only models fall short. Instead, a hybrid cloud model is fast becoming the dominant strategy for deploying GenAI at scale. This approach blends the scalability of public cloud with the control and compliance advantages of on-prem and edge deployments.
GenAI demands robust compute power, fast data pipelines, and stringent governance protocols. That’s why hybrid is winning. It offers enterprises the ability to run models closer to the data, reduce latency, and comply with data sovereignty requirements – all while scaling rapidly when needed.
In short, GenAI is not just fuelling cloud adoption; it is reshaping how and where cloud infrastructure needs to operate. For Middle East organisations, this insight is crucial as they plan large-scale AI initiatives while navigating stringent data localisation policies. As regional governments roll out AI strategies and invest in talent development, cloud-native AI infrastructure will become a critical enabler of competitiveness.
Lift and shift is out, refactor is in
The era of simply rehosting legacy applications in the cloud is coming to a close. The HCLTech report finds that 80 per cent of enterprises now believe cloud value is only unlocked when applications are modernised – not just migrated. In fact, 73 per cent of respondents actively refactored applications as part of their cloud migration strategy, signalling a decisive move toward cloud-native thinking.
Modernisation involves more than code updates. It includes decomposing monolithic systems into microservices, embracing containerisation, adopting DevSecOps principles, and investing in platform engineering that enables self-service development environments.
Application modernisation unlocks not only performance improvements but also cultural transformation. Teams move faster, release more reliably, and build applications that scale seamlessly across environments. Platform engineering supports this shift by providing internal developers with tools, templates, and security frameworks that accelerate innovation without sacrificing control.
This is particularly urgent in the Gulf, where industries from real estate to retail are digitising at speed. Without modernising their core applications, even the most ambitious cloud strategies risk delivering disappointing returns on investment. In sectors like logistics, finance and energy, where operational excellence is non-negotiable, the cloud-native advantage will determine who leads and who lags.
Cloud, complexity and the role of third-party experts
Enterprise cloud journeys are increasingly sophisticated – and increasingly difficult to manage in-house. The report reveals that 83 per cent of organisations working with third-party consultants on GenAI and multicloud reported measurable gains in application performance, cost-efficiency and time to deployment. Even more impressively, such partnerships made these companies 69 per cent more likely to have multiple GenAI use cases in production.
As cloud and AI evolve, the internal capabilities of IT teams must evolve with them. But talent shortages, time constraints and fast-moving architectures often stand in the way. This is where consultancies, integrators and specialised partners become accelerators, not just supporters.
External partners bring pattern recognition. They’ve seen what works across industries, scaled similar architectures, and can bring reusable assets to bear. This matters when timelines are short and competitive pressure is intense. From designing hybrid-ready architectures to implementing GenAI governance frameworks, third parties can unlock speed and reduce risk.
In the Middle East, where both national cloud adoption targets and private-sector digital ambitions are surging, trusted partners can offer the scale, speed and security organisations need to execute effectively. The right partner strategy can convert cloud chaos into cloud clarity – and transform transformation into results.
Five takeaways for Middle East leaders
Based on HCLTech’s research, here are five immediate actions CIOs and CTOs in the region should consider:
- Design a hybrid-first architecture: Accept that certain sensitive workloads must remain on-prem or in sovereign environments. Build flexibility around this constraint.
- Modernise your apps, not just your infrastructure: Rehosting without refactoring is a short-term solution. Invest in platforms, SREs, and microservices architectures.
- Integrate GenAI into your cloud roadmap now: Treat AI not as a bolt-on feature but as a core workload that requires custom infrastructure and data alignment.
- Make multicloud intentional: Don’t let shadow IT or mergers dictate your cloud estate. Develop clear governance and procurement strategies.
- Partner smart, not just often: Third-party experts offer competitive advantage – if chosen carefully. Look for partners with regional experience, technical depth and business acumen.
By following these steps, enterprises can future-proof their operations, avoid vendor dependence, and move faster in high-stakes markets. The stakes are high, but so is the upside.
The future
Cloud evolution is no longer about transformation. It’s about survival. HCLTech’s report doesn’t just reflect a shift in technology adoption – it captures a broader realignment of how organisations think about innovation, resilience and agility.
In the next five years, the winners won’t be defined by how quickly they migrated to the cloud, but by how effectively they modernised on it. In a region like the Middle East, where vision-led development meets investor-led performance, the stakes could not be higher.
Cloud is no longer a platform. It’s the foundation. And as GenAI becomes embedded in daily business, platform engineering matures, and multicloud environments become default, the future will belong to those who build wisely, scale securely and partner smartly.
Explore the full report here: Cloud Evolution: The Mandate to Modernize
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