Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2025. Read them in this 17th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
By Sundeep Goel, CEO DigitalEx
As organizations navigate an increasingly complex and costly technology landscape, 2025 is shaping up to be a critical year for infrastructure strategy and financial operations. After years of cloud-first mantras and recent AI hype, reality is setting in forcing enterprises to take a more methodical and fiscally-responsible approach to their technology investments.
Here are three key predictions that will shape the year ahead:
1. Hello Hybrid: Embracing a Mix of On-Prem and Cloud
In 2025, organizations will increasingly adopt hybrid infrastructure as the norm. Rather than viewing cloud and on-premises as competing options, forward-looking companies will treat them as complementary environments. This shift will require breaking down silos between traditionally separate cloud and data center teams, fostering a unified approach to infrastructure management. By aligning these teams and integrating management platforms, businesses can make smarter operational decisions, optimize costs, and better serve the organization’s long-term interests.
Why Hybrid Is the Logical Evolution? The hybrid model offers a balanced approach: it combines the flexibility of the cloud with the control and performance of on-premises systems. Organizations can allocate workloads to the most cost-effective and operationally efficient environments, improving resource utilization while safeguarding sensitive data and ensuring compliance. According to Gartner, 90% of organizations will adopt hybrid cloud strategies by 2027-a clear signal that businesses are moving toward more intentional, cohesive infrastructure models. Success will depend on treating hybrid systems as a single entity, where workloads are orchestrated seamlessly and performance is optimized holistically.
Perhaps most importantly, hybrid infrastructure creates the agility businesses need to innovate and adapt in a rapidly evolving technology landscape. Whether it’s supporting advanced AI initiatives, accelerating time-to-market, or enabling remote teams, hybrid models provide the flexibility and resilience necessary to remain competitive. Organizations that master this approach will not only manage costs more effectively but also lay the groundwork for long-term success-transforming IT systems into strategic enablers of growth and innovation.
2. AI Costs Will Shock CFOs This Summer
As enterprises ramp up their AI initiatives, summer 2025 will bring an alarming wake-up call to when the true costs of these projects hit the balance sheet. Many organizations have been in experimental pilot phases, but transitioning to production and scaling will lead to significant budget overruns. For many CFOs, these unexpected costs will lead to tough conversations around project viability and return on investment (ROI).
The challenge extends beyond initial infrastructure costs with many of the issues based in lack of understanding how these expenses scale with usage over the long term. The reality is too many organizations have launched AI projects without fully grasping the long-term financial implications. This lack of predictability will create risk as these initiatives grow.
To navigate this complex landscape, organizations must look at more mature approaches to AI cost management. They need to track costs per project and application, evaluate the ROI of individual AI implementations, and accurately forecast production costs before making significant investments. For instance, tracking costs associated with AI workloads and understanding their impact on unit economics will be critical.
Without this level of visibility, companies will likely be at a crossroads: miss market opportunities or overspending on unsustainable initiatives. Both will have a very real impact on the business and competitive landscape.
3. FinOps Becomes a Board- and Investor-Level Priority
Perhaps the most significant shift in 2025 will be the elevation of FinOps from an operational discipline to an investor and board-level strategic priority. With infrastructure costs rising to the point where they now constitute a sizeable portion of operating expenses, investors – including private equity firms – will demand clear reporting and tracking.
According to Deloitte, organizations will save $21 billion through FinOps initiatives in 2025 alone. But this shift is not just about cost-cutting; temporary optimization won’t be enough. Instead, boards and investors will be pushing their portfolio companies to mature their FinOps practices – standardizing reporting around holistic infrastructure visibility, predictable spending, granular chargebacks, and optimized resource allocation. Those who do will not only get buy-in from investors but will likely improve efficiency and gain competitive advantages in their markets.
The elevation of FinOps will also accelerate demand for advanced skills, frameworks, and certifications from organizations like the FinOps Foundation. As the AI revolution continues to reshape infrastructure demands, these challenges will only grow over the next decade. The time to act is now. Companies that invest in robust financial operations today will be better equipped to manage costs, scale innovation, and navigate the complexities of modern technology environments.
A Big Year Ahead
As organizations navigate these challenges in 2025, the key to success will lie in implementing holistic approaches to infrastructure management. Those that can bring their entire technology footprint under unified view-from public cloud and on-premises infrastructure to AI workloads-will be best positioned to thrive in this new environment.
The message is clear: the era of siloed infrastructure management is over. Success in 2025 will require complete visibility and control across all technology investments, enabling organizations to make informed decisions about resource allocation while preventing costly surprises. With the right strategies in place, businesses can not only manage costs effectively but also harness the full potential of their technological investments.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sundeep Goel is the CEO of DigitalEx – a leader in the Cloud FinOps space with a particular focus on LLM workload optimization. He is an enterprise software veteran across several quality VC-backed technology companies and has held leadership roles at Netsuite, Adthena, and Procore. He has significant experience helping to scale up B2B software organizations commercially and has held CRO, COO, and VP Sales titles across his career.
Sundeep has a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
