Conclusion
How to redesign cloud and IT for growth and innovation

As organizations drive their strategy toward greater innovation to open new revenue streams, adopt new and emerging technologies and operate in new ways, many are forging ahead with adoption plans without first getting the foundations right. Innovation Leaders show that streamlining infrastructure, enhancing data management and focusing on a proactive cybersecurity approach that is primed for quantum are essential to create the right environment for innovation.

While business and IT executives are mostly aligned around their more traditional infrastructure IT technologies, significant misalignment exists when it comes to emerging technologies. IT executives must manage the disconnect with business executives about how much progress their organizations have really made in their agentic AI efforts, while business executives must help IT executives understand the potential business and workforce implications of emerging technologies.

As emerging technologies bring even greater cybersecurity risks, organizations must invest in a more proactive approach to defense. By keeping their networks secure, organizations can avoid the huge cost of unplanned downtime and create a safe environment primed for innovation.

Calls to action

Reduce complexity, rebalance systems and consolidate cloud platforms to optimize infrastructure and free up budget for innovation.

Enhance communication between business and IT departments: Alignment is critical to advancing new and emerging technologies, such as agentic AI, and reaping the rewards.

Prioritize enhancing data capabilities to optimize AI capabilities now and prepare for the emerging agentic AI era.

Combine AI with cloud to overcome infrastructure challenges and enable a generative-AI-first approach to IT strategy.

Invest in proactive cybersecurity measures and prepare for quantum-related threats.

Separate agentic AI fact from fiction: Identify priority use cases and actions to enable the business to make informed decisions about how and when to invest in these emerging technologies and tools.

About the research

To better understand how businesses are modernizing their cloud and IT infrastructure, Unisys partnered with FT Longitude to conduct a global research study of 1,000 senior IT and business decision-makers between March and May 2025.

The study explored a broad series of topics and issues facing companies in the U.S. (n=375), Europe (n=525) and APAC (n=100). Participants were either C-suite executives (n=300) or C-suite minus one from IT functions, e.g., senior vice president, director, head of IT (n=700). All respondents worked for companies with at least $1 billion in annual revenue. Quotas were applied to ensure representation among a wide range of industries, titles and roles.

Within this report, we refer to the following groups of respondents: business executives (CEO, COO, CFO): n=114; IT executives (CIO; CTO; CISO; chief AI officer; chief data and AI officer; SVP/head/director of IT, cybersecurity, AI, technology): n=886; Innovation Leaders (see methodology).

The findings are representative of these respondents only. The study utilized an online survey methodology. This work builds on the findings from the Unisys Cloud Insights Report 2023: From Barriers to Breakthroughs — Unlocking Growth Opportunities With Cloud-Enabled Innovation, which is referenced throughout this report.

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