Latin America. 2024 was an election year in many countries, and this created a lot of uncertainty on the global stage. Everything from global debt to policy decisions has been on pause, waiting for a clear agenda from new governments. There is now a pent-up demand for spending in many sectors, which we will see realized in 2025.
At the country level, many are talking about how to tackle global debt and invest in infrastructure at the same time. We will see this conversation next year as new governments look to progress their plans and invest in their public sectors, as well as encourage private sector investment.
Here are some technology predictions for 2025 from Pure Storage:
2025 will see stricter selection in AI projects as the bubble begins to burst
Organizations will be more selective in AI projects in the coming year. While the two years since ChatGPT launched has brought a boom in AI investment, I anticipate that companies will retire spending before fatigue sets in.
I expect the market to realign – existing growth could become unsustainable because projects don't deliver ROI and realism will set in. Many organizations will not be able to convince business leaders that they need to invest in new technologies when existing AI or GenAI projects have not delivered the promised benefits. While FOMO (or "fear of missing out") is still a big driver for investment, we expect this to ease in 2025.
Non-customized AI solutions will fall out of favor by 2025. Recovery-enhanced generation (RAG) will become a non-negotiable inclusion for enterprises and will take over as the method adopted to implement AI. As business leaders demand ROI from the speculative investment they've already made in AI, RAG will be crucial to success. This is because it provides a standard approach to customization, improving results and reducing the chance of hallucinations, rather than building, training, and tweaking individual models from scratch.
Sustainability goals will be at risk from AI and the incoming wave of data centers
As the demand for AI and associated data storage continues to grow, sustainability will once again be in the spotlight. As AI drove greater use of computing resources, which had a negative impact on energy reduction targets, sustainability was marginalized. But now, the corporate agenda is on the rise: how organizations view and implement sustainable practices will once again be on top management's radar.
I anticipate the following issues:
More organizations will discuss their energy transition – how they are going to feed the increased demand for data centers. With some of the largest companies adopting nuclear power to meet these demands, there will be more scrutiny in this decision.
As a method of highlighting sustainability impact, impact accounting will be widely adopted at a higher level. As it focuses attention on environmental issues and associated costs, it will become the de facto means of calling out the benefits of sustainability initiatives in a language that C-Suite and the Board will understand.
There will be a push to build more data centers in many countries, driven in part by new governments enacting their sovereign cloud mandates. However, how to drive these and maintain sustainability goals and ensure there is enough power to power homes and businesses will remain firmly in the spotlight.
Have we reached the top of the cloud?
There is growing realism about cloud adoption. With increased expectations of regulation, more knowledge about the downsides, awareness of the costs driving repatriation, and geo-restrictions, 2025 could be the year we hit the peak cloud.
On the regulation side, with the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) in place in early 2025, the actions of cloud service providers will be focused on focus. They will need to evidence the steps they take to comply, for example, with test and resilience plans that are shared with regulators. Cloud service providers and hyperscalers will be held accountable in a way they haven't been before, and non-compliance will force remediation efforts across the financial services industry. I hope that some will set an example of to ensure greater adherence to these new regulations.
Another element momentum shift is the ongoing disruption brought on by VMware's acquisition of Broadcom. In 2025 we will see if customers will accept their fate or adopt alternatives. Many organizations are still figuring out what works and doesn't work in terms of the other options and next year we'll see if the alternatives can fully meet business needs, or if organizational anger subsides and they stick with what they know.
Text written by Douglas Wallace, District Sales Manager, Latin America and the Caribbean (Except Brazil) at Pure Storage.
