The new age of cloud: responding to a shifting paradigm

Our survey examines how organisations are adjusting to these new conditions. It highlights five forces shaping the next stage of cloud:

1. the move from broad adoption to optimisation
2. the impact of geopolitical and regulatory realignment
3. the growing importance of sovereignty and trust
4. the emergence of agentic AI
5. the rising need to control the cost of innovation through cloud economics. 

Swiss organisations continue to increase their cloud budgets, seeing cloud as a strategic growth driver rather than a cost‑cutting lever. But many still struggle to turn higher investment into measurable value. Stronger FinOps, clearer governance, and better alignment between spend and outcomes are becoming essential.

At the same time, priorities are shifting: Swiss companies are modernising core platforms, preparing for AI, and upgrading cloud infrastructure to improve resilience, security, and efficiency.

Geopolitical tensions, new international regulations, and Switzerland’s growing focus on digital sovereignty are redefining how organisations think about cloud. As global rules tighten and cross‑border data flows face new scrutiny, Swiss companies must find the right balance between innovation, control, and compliance.

With regulation and privacy concerns now among the top barriers to realising cloud value, leaders are under pressure to ensure their cloud environments remain trusted, secure, and resilient. At the same time, rapid technological change is raising expectations and increasing the complexity of cloud governance — from data classification and sovereignty‑by‑design to navigating frameworks such as GDPR, NIS2, DORA, and the Swiss Government Cloud.

Sovereignty is no longer just about compliance – it’s about resilience, trust, and innovation. It has become a strategic requirement: organisations want clear control over where data is stored, how it is handled, and who can access it, without sacrificing innovation.

Switzerland’s tiered Government Cloud model helps match sovereignty needs with the right deployment setup — from public cloud to highly protected environments.

Compliance is no longer slowing innovation; it is driving it. As regulations such as the EU AI Act raise expectations, organisations are combining multi‑cloud, sovereign cloud solutions, and trusted partnerships to ensure transparency, responsible governance, and secure AI‑enabled innovation.

AI is no longer an add-on – it’s the engine of cloud innovation. In Switzerland, interest is high: most organisations are piloting or exploring agentic AI, but only 15% are scaling it, indicating very early maturity.

A growing gap is visible between ambition and readiness. Many organisations lack the necessary data foundations, governance, and skills to scale AI effectively — well below EMEA benchmarks. To capture real value, Swiss organisations must strengthen their architecture, invest in talent, and prepare their cloud environments for more demanding AI workloads.

Organisations that link AI investment directly to cloud strategy will define the next wave of digital advantage.

Cloud promises agility — but without discipline, costs can escalate quickly. Swiss organisations are increasingly recognising that FinOps is essential to keep cloud spending transparent, controlled, and tied to business outcomes. 

While 77% already use or plan to use FinOps, maturity varies. Some organisations have integrated full financial governance, while others are only beginning with visibility and optimisation.

As cloud usage and AI workloads grow, a stronger FinOps practice is becoming critical for predictable, value‑driven cloud investment.

Swiss organisations have rapidly strengthened their cloud maturity, narrowing the gap to EMEA at a moment when sovereignty, regulation, and risk awareness are becoming defining pillars of cloud strategy. 

AI will shape the next phase — but most organisations are still laying the groundwork needed to deploy it securely, responsibly, and at scale. 

To turn this momentum into long‑term advantage, organisations should:

• Balance resilience with flexibility to meet sovereignty, privacy, and compliance expectations without slowing innovation.
• Build competencies for complex architectures, ensuring teams can operate modern cloud environments with confidence and control. 
• Prepare responsibly for AI, strengthening data foundations and governance to unlock its full impact safely.
• Use compliance and privacy as innovation enablers, not constraints — turning Switzerland’s high standards into a competitive edge.