AI adoption ranks among the top three reasons for private cloud use as enterprises seek stricter governance and control over sensitive data

GTT Communications Inc., a leader in networking and security as a service for multinational organizations, today released a new Cloud Usage and Management Trends white paper based on industry survey findings. The paper reveals a resurgence in private cloud adoption, primarily driven by rising privacy, security and compliance requirements, with AI workloads emerging as a fast-growing contributor to this shift.

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Cloud Usage and Management Trends: Top Reasons to Use Private Cloud

Conducted by Hanover Research, the survey shows that in the era of advanced AI, concerns around data privacy, security and regulatory compliance are naturally top of mind for enterprise leaders. These priorities, alongside a growing need to safely test and deploy AI models, are driving a resurgence in private cloud adoption as organizations seek greater control over where and how sensitive data is handled.

“We know many companies are now shifting their sensitive workloads to private clouds as part of broader multi-cloud and hybrid strategies designed to support agentic AI and other complex AI initiatives at scale,” said Bastien Aerni, VP of Strategy and Technology Adoption, GTT. “This distributed approach allows enterprises to balance performance, security and compliance requirements while optimizing costs to advance their AI ambitions.”

According to survey respondents, private cloud spending at the $10M+ per year level will increase from 43% in 2024 to 53.6% in 2025, reflecting a 24% growth rate, compared to just 12% growth in public cloud spending for these same cohorts. More than half of all AI workloads already reside in a combination of private cloud and on-premises environments, driven primarily by enhanced security (56%), compliance and regulatory demands (51%) and the specific needs of AI workloads (50%). Cost remains a factor but ranks much lower at 35%.

As enterprises adopt hybrid strategies to support more complex AI workloads, many encounter challenges spanning both public and private cloud environments. For public cloud deployments, challenges around migration of apps and data and technical skills or feasibility are the highest ranking at 43%. When migrating workloads to private clouds, the top challenges – each cited by 38% of respondents – are managing apps post-migration, securing hybrid environments and, once again, a lack of technical skills or feasibility.

“Enterprise infrastructure strategies are evolving fast as AI workloads surpass the limits of traditional architectures,” Aerni continued. “Organizations are refining their cloud environments, whether public, private or hybrid, to support their AI initiatives at scale. But many still underestimate the complexity involved. In our experience, without reengineering connectivity and security architectures, even the most ambitious private cloud strategies can fall short.”

Hanover Research surveyed 283 IT, infrastructure, networking, security and other enterprise leaders throughout the U.S. and Europe across retail, hospitality, manufacturing, food and beverage, healthcare, financial services, tech and more. Each respondent represents an organization with at least six locations and annual revenues of $200 million or more.

Learn more about the survey-based white paper, Cloud Usage and Management Trends, here.

About GTT

GTT is a leading networking and security as a service provider for multinational organizations, simply and securely connecting people and machines to data and applications — anywhere in the world. We serve thousands of organizations, bringing together the right people, partners and technology to reduce the burden on IT teams and solve the most pressing networking and security challenges. Built on our top-ranked global Tier 1 network, GTT Envision is a single global technology platform to connect, orchestrate, virtualize and automate enterprise networks, enabling customers with consumable solutions to achieve business missions and meet ongoing demand when, where and how needed. Our portfolio includes SASE, SD-WAN, security, internet, voice and other connectivity options, complemented by a suite of professional services and exceptional sales and support teams in local markets around the globe. We partner with our customers to deliver Greater Technology Together. For more information, please visit www.gtt.net.

About Hanover Research

Founded in 2003, Hanover Research is a global research and analytics firm that delivers market intelligence through a unique, fixed-fee model to more than 1,000 clients. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Hanover employs high-caliber market researchers, analysts, and account executives to provide a service that is revolutionary in its combination of flexibility and affordability. Hanover has been named a Top 50 Market Research Firm by the American Marketing Association every year since 2015. To learn more about Hanover Research, visit www.hanoverresearch.com.

Press releases can be downloaded from gtt.net.

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"Many companies are shifting their sensitive workloads to private clouds as part of broader multi-cloud and hybrid strategies designed to support agentic AI and other complex AI initiatives," said Bastien Aerni, VP of Strategy and Technology Adoption, GTT