B is for back to the basics
"Trust has always been the cornerstone of brand loyalty, but in 2025, consumer trust is poised to hit an all-time low. According to Twilio’s 2024 Consumer Preferences Report, 56% of consumers in APAC say they will not purchase from a brand they don’t trust," said Robert Woolfrey, VP for Communications in APJ, Twilio.
"It’s time to return to the basics in 2025—keeping promises, following through, and delivering reliable and supportive experiences, during key moments of truth. As the focus shifts towards cultivating an Ecosystem of Trust, more brands will turn to Chief Trust Officers, to help redefine customer experience, marketing, and technology strategies for building lasting customer relationships."
Woolfrey said that AI will continue to be a key driver in solidifying the Ecosystem of Trust. "Brands will increasingly bet on predictive AI as they strive to eliminate guesswork, refine recommendations and improve communications ultimately strengthening brand-customer interactions," he said.
C is for cloud computing
Andy Ng, VP and MD for Asia South and Pacific Region, Veritas Technologies said: "As Singapore’s tech ecosystem continues to grow, the shift away from traditional hypervisors* creates significant opportunities for local cloud and virtualisation providers. This trend not only fosters a more competitive environment but also encourages offerings tailored to meet the unique local regulatory needs," he said.
"'Hypervisor castaways', organisations jumping ship en masse due to recent market shifts, will be on the lookout for a lifeboat. This will completely change the landscape, shifting the balance in the provider ecosystem, while also requiring organisations to adapt to a more heterogeneous environment.
Multicloud models
"In Singapore, the adoption of hybrid cloud models has been particularly strong, with the public sector strategically shifting towards a cloud-smart approach. Hybrid multicloud infrastructure deployments are forecast to triple over the next one to three years as organisations face mounting pressures to modernise their IT infrastructures, driven by AI, security, and sustainability.
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| Source: HPE. Krishnan. |
"A hybrid cloud strategy will no longer be just an option, but a prevailing operating model of choice because it’s ideal for unlocking the value of organisational data and accelerating AI deployment," observed Mohan Krishnan, VP & GM, HPE GreenLake Cloud Services, APAC, HPE.
"A hybrid-by-design operation model, rather than a hybrid by accident model where hybrid model planning is an afterthought, will be key to success. Furthermore, robust and efficient hybrid cloud infrastructure that has been designed for AI will enable organisations to have better data visibility, enhanced control and protection, and streamlined data management across environments.
"This also helps them mitigate unplanned costs caused by unexpected challenges around operational complexities, security risks and inefficient use of resources."
"Fuelled by the volatile and fast-moving technological environment, more businesses across the APAC
region are considering adopting multi-cloud strategies to enhance flexibility and scalability, while avoiding vendor lock-in," forecast Lenovo.
"In 2025, we expect to see this momentum continue, with a growing demand for AI-related cloud solutions, such as those that provide predictive analytics, automation and enhanced customer experiences...However, as shifting between data infrastructure solutions can be complex and costly, business leaders will need to carefully manage migration costs while balancing the long-term benefits of flexibility and scalability."
Cloud and AI
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| Source: SAP. Maheshwari. |
For AI to reach its transformative potential, it must be built in the cloud, said Utkarsh Maheshwari, Chief Partner Officer and Head of Midmarket, SAP Asia Pacific Japan (APJ).
"As Asia Pacific (APAC) becomes a hotspot for AI development, cloud infrastructure investments are skyrocketing, with hyperscalers pouring billions into expanding their data centre footprint, especially across emerging digital markets such as Indonesia and Vietnam," he said.
"In the APAC region, SMEs make up a significant majority of businesses, and 92% of midsized businesses already consider gen AI a priority. In (2025), as companies in the region increasingly recognise AI as the springboard for innovation, we can expect to see the cloud boom continue, with companies doubling down on cloud transformation.
"Companies that have already invested early in building a resilient, scalable cloud infrastructure will see the biggest return from their AI investments, while those that haven’t will need to leapfrog with a cloud-first approach to remain competitive."
Gen AI is an abbreviation for generative AI. SME stands for small and medium-sized enterprise.
Repatriation
Anthony Spiteri, Regional CTO APJ, Veeam Software said: "A number of businesses are expected to move workloads from the public cloud back to on-premises data centres to manage costs and improve efficiencies. This is the essence of data freedom – the ability to move and store data wherever you need it, with no vendor lock-in.
"Organisations that previously shifted to the public cloud now realise that a hybrid approach is more advantageous for achieving cloud economics. While the public cloud has its benefits, local infrastructure can offer superior control and performance in certain instances, such as for resource-intensive applications that need to remain closer to the edge. We can also now consume and operate on-premises infrastructure with the same tooling and level of automation previously restricted to the public cloud."
"Gartner says that many companies are re-evaluating their data strategies after seeing the full implications of shifting workloads, which has led to a renewed interest in hybrid and multicloud models. Factors such as market uncertainty, evolving licensing structures, and regulatory considerations will also influence this shift, as businesses seek data strategies that are adaptable while optimising access and data sovereignty. As a result, businesses are seeking more flexible and scalable solutions, such as multicloud or hybrid-cloud approaches," Spiteri added.
"However, any shift in data infrastructure poses risks, including data loss or corruption. With increasing concerns around moving data safely and with integrity, many businesses will turn to vendors."
Cloud security
Elia Zaitsev, CTO, CrowdStrike, suggested that stopping cloud breaches will require a hybrid approach. "With a 75% increase in cloud intrusions over the past year, securing the cloud is more critical than ever. But today, tools protecting the cloud alone are not enough," he said.
"Attackers are increasingly moving laterally between cloud platforms and on-prem environments to evade detection and achieve their objectives, taking advantage of the complexity of hybrid environments and protection gaps created by disconnected point products. To regain control in 2025, businesses must have full visibility across public and private clouds, on-prem networks and APIs, from the same unified console and workflow.
"A holistic security platform that integrates runtime, posture management, identity and data security across hybrid environments will be essential to protect against these sophisticated threats."Data protection trends will again come full circle—this time for software-as-a-service (SaaS), Veritas predicts. "Just as with cloud and Kubernetes, organisations have realised that no environment is inherently safe and that, if they want to be able to confidently and quickly restore their data, they need enterprise-grade, centralised data resilience," said Ng.
"As Singapore continues to strengthen its digital economy and drive technological innovation, companies are placing greater priority on robust data protection strategies to ensure quick and reliable data recovery in case of disruptions. In fact, 97% of Singapore organisations acknowledge the need to improve ransomware protection, with 33% planning to significantly increase investment in this area.
"As SaaS adoption grows across industries, both private and public sectors in Singapore are investing in solutions such as the implementation of Zero-Trust architecture as a key strategy to protect data integrity across multicloud and hybrid environments. These efforts underline the importance of centralised data resilience in managing and recovering critical business data in an increasingly complex IT landscape.
Zaitsev also touched on the need to protect AI models. "As adversaries increasingly target AI services and large language models (LLMs) deployed in these environments, protecting the integrity and performance of AI systems is more critical than ever. The data driving these models—and the applications they power—must be safeguarded against sophisticated threats. To secure AI innovation in the cloud, security teams will need specialised technology and services that monitor AI services and LLMs, detect misconfigurations, and identify and address vulnerabilities, unified with protection across the entire cloud estate: from infrastructure and applications to data," he said.
C is also for connectivity
"Connectivity itself is undergoing a profound transformation. As space-based Internet services gain traction and billions of IoT devices come online, networks must now handle not only human-to-human communication but also an ever-growing flood of machine-to-machine API traffic," said John Engates, Field CTO, Cloudflare.
"Meeting this challenge calls for designing networks with security, reliability, and performance baked in from the start. These attributes become indispensable as data flows multiply and diversify, demanding an infrastructure that can gracefully scale, adapt, and maintain trust at the edges of our increasingly interconnected world."
API refers to application programming interfaces while IoT stands for the Internet of Things.
Explore
Read the full set of 2025 predictions from 2-Z at https://www.techtradeasia.com/2025/01/the-techtrade-asia-2024-roundup-2025.html
Hashtag: #2025Predictions
*A hypervisor is software that creates and runs virtual machines. Virtual machines or VMs are essential for cloud computing.
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