Issue A decade of cloud migration removed the in-house skills AI infrastructure now requires

Summary

Deloitte argues that the shift to AI infrastructure will require reskilling across IT organisations. Data centre teams will need to move from traditional server management to AI-optimised operations, GPU cluster management, high-bandwidth networking and specialised cooling. Network architects must design for AI traffic patterns with GPU-to-GPU communication, massive data transfers and ultra-low latency, and cost engineers must learn to optimise hybrid compute portfolios that account for GPU utilisation and inference economics. Years of cloud migration have eroded much internal data centre expertise, so many organisations struggle to hire people who understand these requirements. The report calls this gap especially challenging for businesses that moved entirely to the cloud. It also frames it as an opportunity for organisations willing to invest in developing their own workforce.