Executive summary

Organizations want to generate new revenue streams and create new growth opportunities — all while adopting innovative technologies to operate more efficiently. Whether it is generative AI, agentic AI, quantum technology or automation, organizations plan to invest more in emerging technologies over the next 12 months to reap the benefits they bring.

But here is the challenge: Business executives in our survey (CEOs, CFOs and COOs) and IT executives are not aligned on investment strategies or whether existing cloud and IT infrastructures can support these emerging technologies. If not addressed, this disconnect could waste time and money and endanger overall security.

Unisys surveyed 1,000 business and IT executives across eight global markets to understand how they are choosing cloud and IT infrastructure solutions, making decisions about new and emerging technologies and facing the challenges of integrating them into their operations.

What the research tells us

Modernizing cloud and IT infrastructure is critical for innovation. Organizations see the cloud as a profit center, and 76% intend to increase cloud investment in 2025. But a lot of infrastructures and data management tools are too complex — streamlining them could unlock more budget for innovation.
Bad data sabotages technology investments.
AI and innovation efforts cannot succeed unless organizations collect and integrate high-quality data effectively. Yet, only 36% of organizations are confident they have the right architecture to support large volumes of data.
Business executives want agentic AI now, but their IT infrastructure is not ready.
Almost three-quarters (73%) of business executives believe they must adopt agentic AI soon or face competitive risk. But many lack the right IT foundation.
Legacy infrastructure and reactive cybersecurity leave organizations vulnerable to the next wave of cyber threats.
Organizations are overexposed to cyber threats and underprepared to deal with them — 85% of organizations admit that their cyber strategies are too reactive. With $100,000 to $500,000 at stake for every hour of unplanned downtime (according to 41% of organizations), this approach is too risky.

Innovation Leaders think differently about technology

Within our research, we have identified a group of “Innovation Leaders.” This small segment of 103 respondents (10% of our sample) shows what smart IT infrastructure and investment decisions look like to help fuel innovation. The remaining 897 respondents in our survey who do not qualify as an Innovation Leader are classified as "mainstream organizations" throughout this report.

To qualify as an Innovation Leader, organizations within the research met all of the following criteria:

Innovation Leaders share a clear goal: to use technology to drive innovation and open new revenue streams. Their approach offers practical guidance for organizations ready to make clearer decisions and move past the complexity.

Figure 1:
Innovation Leaders say they outperform mainstream organizations on every business metric

Q: Compared to this time last year, how would you describe your organization's performance across the following areas? (Significantly better than expectations)