Emma Dennard, VP Northern Europe at OVHcloud, believes that 2025 will be ‘challenging but rewarding’ and represents a year of change, as she explains. 

In 2024, we saw the start of some significant changes in the UK, including a new government and the growth of the AI industry, not to mention the effects of geopolitical instability on the technology sector, and the pressing need for greater financial due diligence in the wake of inflation and rising prices. So, what’s coming up and what does it mean?

Responsible AI comes of age

In 2025, we’ll see companies get serious about AI. Although a lot of businesses tested and experimented with AI in 2024 – and we saw a great deal of ‘shadow AI’ or ‘bring your own AI’ – this year, organisations will recognise that AI is here to stay and can offer a great deal of value. This will mean careful evaluation of AI tools, and their integration into company systems. However, it will also come with a heightened awareness of data supply chains and corporate risk.

For example, there have been allegations by coalitions of content creators that some of the largest AI LLMs were trained on copyrighted content without permission or royalties being paid. The UK Government is currently running a consultation on how we balance progress, innovation and respect for intellectual property to ensure AI is correctly managed in this country. However, in the short term, businesses will have to be careful about how they make use of such tools – although it does represent an opportunity as well as a challenge. Organisations that can get their house in order and promote responsible and transparent AI usage, helping customers avoid risk in turn, will be in a much stronger position than those with an unverified data supply chain.

On the other hand, although a great deal of noise has been made about LLMs and Generative AI, in 2025, the power of non-LLM AI will start to be more widely recognised. AI has incredible potential when it comes to pattern recognition, advanced correlation and prediction capabilities, and although this is not generative, there are some applications of this technology that can genuinely drive society and innovation forward.

Data centres in the spotlight

In 2024, data centres were designated as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), the first sector to receive the accreditation since the space industry was given the title in 2015. Alongside AI’s popularity – and the publicity it has received – this will put data centres even more into the public eye.

For the industry, the designation is a positive move. Although there may be regulation further down the line, at present, it will mean greater support and sharing of best practice for the industry at large, helping to keep our critical infrastructure safe from natural and man-made risks.

However, with AI under scrutiny, data centre operators will also face some difficult questions in 2025. Water and power consumption, alongside carbon emissions, will be scrutinised next year, and it’s entirely possible that we’ll see regulatory discussions around data centre power consumption and sustainability, as well as raised awareness of the importance of sustainability and efficiency across the industry. Again, although this can be an administrative burden, it can only be a good thing for the planet as we try to ensure that we meet the needs of today’s businesses without compromising the world of tomorrow.

FinOps and Cloud Governance become BAU – and GreenOps emerges

Finally, governance will become more important in 2025. Most companies today have at least half their data in the cloud, with most taking either a ‘cloud first’ or ‘hybrid first’ approach. Although almost all – around 94% – of UK businesses say that cloud has saved them money, the amount of data that businesses are putting into the cloud is unlikely to decrease this year. As such, heightened scrutiny of spending, or formalised FinOps processes, will come to the fore.

Alongside this financial governance will come more robust processes for managing sprawl, choosing cloud providers, and ensuring fluid interoperability when needed. The benefits of cloud computing are well-established, but like any technology, it needs careful management and a strategic approach to make sure that it pays off in the longer term.

At the same time, the ever-increasing environmental concerns across the world will bring a greater need for responsible technology usage. Although understanding organizational Scope 3 emissions can be incredibly complex and difficult, they can also be the lion’s share of a company’s carbon footprint: businesses like Apple have been forthcoming in documenting that Scope 3 emissions make up approximately 98% of company carbon emissions. As such, many organisations will start to improve their transparency and sustainability reporting in 2025 in an effort to grow whilst still preserving the planet.

Overall, there’s little doubt that 2025 will be a challenging year for all organisations in the UK, but also a rewarding one. We desperately need a more sustainable technology industry, and although increased technology usage almost always results in a greater carbon footprint, AI may be instrumental in helping us to tackle this – and other – issues. But despite the challenges, I do believe that we’re taking steps in the right direction, and 2025 should be a truly great year for our industry.