78% of Businesses Are Investing in GenAI -- but Just 36% have the Infrastructure to Support It, New Unisys Study Finds

Core Insights - The report highlights a significant gap between business ambitions and IT readiness, raising concerns about wasted investments and cybersecurity risks [1][4][5] - Organizations are increasingly recognizing the importance of emerging technologies like generative AI and agentic AI for long-term success, with 73% of executives viewing agentic AI as critical [4][7] - Despite intentions to invest more in generative AI, only 36% of organizations feel prepared to support large-scale AI workloads [7][8] Investment Trends - 78% of organizations plan to increase their investment in generative AI, reflecting growing confidence in its potential [4][7] - 82% of innovation leaders are allocating over 6% of their IT budgets to generative AI-enabled data management [4] - Three-quarters of business executives are increasing investments in cloud, automation, and generative AI despite dissatisfaction with current ROI [7] Infrastructure Challenges - Many organizations are still operating on outdated infrastructure, which hampers the adoption of AI and quantum computing [5][6] - Only 36% of organizations feel confident in their ability to support large-scale generative AI workloads, with even lower readiness for quantum computing (32%) and edge computing (34%) [5][7] - The lack of alignment between business and IT priorities remains a significant challenge [5][6] Cybersecurity Concerns - 85% of organizations describe their cybersecurity posture as reactive, exposing them to serious security risks [8][9] - 17% of organizations experienced a breach in the past year, with downtime costs reaching up to $500,000 per hour [8] - Only 14% of business executives believe their systems are prepared for post-quantum cryptography, highlighting a critical vulnerability [8][9] Strategic Shifts - 62% of business executives are adopting or planning to adopt Zero Trust models, indicating a shift towards more proactive cybersecurity strategies [9] - 61% prioritize cyber recovery, while only 43% have implemented AI-based cybersecurity measures, suggesting room for improvement [9]