Firms boost cloud spend despite low ROI

Despite lackluster returns on prior investments, organizations plan to increase cloud spending this year, according to a recent Unisys report surveying 1,000 C-suite and technology executives across eight global markets, according to Cybersecurity Dive.

Fewer than half of business leaders reported satisfaction with ROI on cloud, AI, and automation, yet over three-quarters intend to boost cloud budgets. The survey highlights a widening gap between business and IT priorities, with Manju Naglapur, SVP at Unisys, noting that "organizations are still operating on outdated foundations and processes" and must modernize infrastructure while aligning IT and business goals. Generative AI and agentic AI are intensifying pressure on enterprise systems, yet more than 40% of IT leaders said their infrastructure cannot fully support AI workloads. Security concerns also reveal misalignment: nearly two-thirds of business executives see outdated security as a barrier to data sharing, versus one-third of IT leaders. Nearly 90% of respondents handle incidents reactively, risking costly downtime that can exceed $500,000 per hour.