90% of Organizations Report Strong AI and Cloud Foundations, but Business Performance Falls Short, Unisys Finds

Rhea-AI Summary

Unisys (NYSE: UIS) released its global "AI & Cloud Insights Report 2026," based on a survey of 1,000 senior IT and business decision-makers in the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific. The report finds that 90% of organizations say they have the right architecture for large-scale data-driven decision-making and 90% believe they effectively use automation to optimize IT.

However, according to Unisys, only 65% report operational efficiency exceeding expectations, down from 80% in 2025, indicating a gap between technical progress and business outcomes. Cybersecurity risks are rising, with 49% reporting a breach in the past 12 months versus 17% previously. While 75% say agentic AI will be essential for managing cloud environments, only 23% have begun scaling it, and 77% remain in early stages of adoption. At the same time, 96% say their cloud security approach helps them adopt new technologies faster, and 93% report that cloud security capabilities significantly influence how much autonomy they grant AI systems.

Market reaction after AI insights report: UIS -3.31% in the Jul 21 session

-3.31%

10 alerts

-3.31% Session close to close

-3.6% Trough in 26 hr 17 min

$265.37M Market Cap

0.6x Rel. Volume

In the Jul 21 session, UIS declined 3.31%, reflecting a moderate negative market reaction. Argus tracked a trough of -3.6% from its starting point during tracking. Our momentum scanner triggered 10 alerts that day, indicating notable trading interest and price volatility.

Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.

Market Context

Insider activity was Net Selling, with 153846 shares sold and 0 bought during the analyzed period. A...

Analysis

Insider activity was Net Selling, with 153846 shares sold and 0 bought during the analyzed period. Against that context, the report's technical progress versus business-outcome gap warrants attention alongside the July 29 results date.

Key Figures

Survey participants: 1,000 senior IT and business decision-makers AI and cloud architecture: 90%, up from 72% Operational efficiency: 65%, down from 80% +5 more

8 metrics

Survey participants 1,000 senior IT and business decision-makers United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific

AI and cloud architecture 90%, up from 72% Organizations reporting the right architecture; 2025 comparison

Operational efficiency 65%, down from 80% Organizations reporting efficiency exceeds expectations; 2025 comparison

Cybersecurity breaches 49%, compared with 17% Organizations experiencing a breach in the past 12 months versus prior period

Agentic AI importance 75% Organizations saying agentic AI will be essential to managing cloud environments

Agentic AI scaling 23% Organizations that have begun scaling agentic AI across their business

Cloud security and innovation 96%, up from 60% Organizations saying cloud security enhances faster technology adoption; 2025 comparison

Talent shortages 27% Top barrier to scaling new tools and delivering business impact

Previous AI Reports

5 past events · Latest: Apr 22 (Positive)

Same Type Pattern 5 events

Date	Event	Sentiment	24h Move	Catalyst
Apr 22	AI services expansion	Positive	+3.3%	Expanded Salesforce collaboration integrated Agentforce 360 into field-services solutions.
Apr 06	Service desk recertification	Positive	+0.5%	HDI recertification cited AI, automation and global service-desk delivery quality.
Feb 18	Cybersecurity summit participation	Neutral	+1.9%	Cybersecurity summit panel addressed AI-driven threat detection and emerging technology risks.
Feb 04	AI services recognition	Positive	-5.5%	ISG named Unisys a Leader across two advanced analytics and AI service quadrants.
Jan 08	AI technology forecast	Positive	+8.7%	Top IT Insights forecast task-based AI deployments and enterprise technology trends.

24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.

Pattern Detected

Tag-specific AI news averaged a 1.76% 24-hour move, with three aligned positive reactions and two divergences.

Key Terms

agentic ai, cloud security

2 terms

agentic ai technical

"While 75% say agentic AI will be essential to managing cloud environments"

Agentic AI refers to computer systems that can make their own decisions and take actions without needing someone to tell them what to do each time. It's like giving a robot a degree of independence to solve problems or achieve goals on its own, which matters because it could change how we work and interact with technology in everyday life.

cloud security technical

"96% also view security as an enabler of innovation"

Cloud security is the set of practices, tools and policies that protect data, applications and infrastructure hosted on remote servers accessed over the internet. It matters to investors because weak cloud security can lead to data breaches, costly downtime, regulatory fines and lost customer trust—risks that can hit revenue and share value the way a broken lock can expose everything inside a storefront.

AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.

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While 75% say agentic AI will be essential to managing cloud environments, only 23% have begun scaling it across their business

BLUE BELL, Pa., July 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Unisys (NYSE: UIS) has released a new global report, "Unisys AI & Cloud Insights Report 2026: The benchmarks, the gaps, and what to do next," which examines how organizations are turning AI and cloud investments into measurable outcomes amid rising cybersecurity concerns. Findings indicate organizations are at an inflection point: confidence in AI and cloud capabilities is rising, while expectations from boards and stakeholders to deliver immediate results are accelerating.

The study surveyed 1,000 senior IT and business decision-makers across the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Key research findings include:

• Confidence rises as performance falls: 90% of organizations say they have the right architecture to support large-scale data-driven decision-making, up from 72% in 2025. Yet fewer organizations are exceeding operational efficiency expectations.
• Cybersecurity risk surges: Nearly half (49%) of organizations experienced a cybersecurity breach in the past 12 months — nearly three times higher than the prior year (17%).
• Agentic AI hype outpaces adoption: While 75% say agentic AI will be essential to managing cloud environments, only 23% have begun scaling it across their business.
• Security drives innovation: 96% say their cloud security approach enhances their ability to adopt new technologies faster than competitors, up from 60% in 2025.

"Building a strong technology foundation is an important first step. IT and business leaders must show that their investments are paying off and delivering real growth," said Mike Thomson, chief executive officer and president, Unisys. "This means aligning IT to outcomes, deploying agentic AI where it creates value and treating security as the foundation that makes all of it possible, rather than a constraint."

Technology Confidence is Outpacing Business Outcomes

Organizations have made meaningful progress building the technical foundations required for scalable AI and cloud environments. Of those surveyed, 90% of organizations report having the right architecture to support large-scale data-driven decision-making (up 18 percentage points from 2025), while 90% also say they are effectively leveraging automation to optimize their IT environments.

Despite growing confidence in AI and cloud capabilities, organizations are converting that progress into measurable outcomes at a slower rate. Only 65% report that operational efficiency exceeds expectations — down from 80% in 2025.

To bridge this gap, organizations should prioritize converting technical capability into measurable outcomes. Addressing challenges such as talent shortages (27%) and data management and integration issues (26%) — top barriers identified in the study — will be critical to scaling new tools and delivering business impact.

From Technical Progress to Business Impact

Organizations continue to align technology investments with technical rather than operational and commercial goals that matter most to the bottom line.

Currently, organizations cite technical modernization (39%) and enabling AI and automation (36%) as their top objectives for application transformation efforts, ranking well above more tangible business benefits such as reducing operating costs (27%), improving customer experience (24%) and accelerating speed to market (21%).

At the same time, fewer than half (42%) of business leaders view cloud and IT as profit centers rather than cost centers, reflecting rising expectations that technology demonstrates clear, near-term business impact.

Agentic AI Moves From Hype to Measured Adoption

Organizations are increasingly looking to agentic AI to manage their growing number of cloud applications (75%). Most organizations remain in early stages of adoption (77%), indicating a more deliberate approach to deployment.

While organizations continue to prepare for agentic AI adoption, they report progress in identifying priority use cases (89%), upskilling employees (87%), securing executive buy-in (87%), and partnering with AI and technology vendors (86%) — key steps required for effective agentic AI deployment.

Cyber Risks Rise as Security Shapes AI Adoption

As AI systems gain greater autonomy and expanded access to data and workflows, the threat landscape has intensified. In the past 12 months, nearly half (49%) of organizations experienced a cybersecurity breach, compared with 17% in the prior period — emphasizing the growing importance of resilient security strategies.

To respond, organizations are reframing their cybersecurity approach, recognizing the need to scale AI without compromising resilience. Currently, 93% say that cloud security capabilities significantly affect the level of autonomy they grant AI systems.

Encouragingly, nearly all organizations (96%) also view security as an enabler of innovation, helping them adopt new technologies faster. Organizations that embed security into their AI and cloud strategies will be better positioned to scale innovation with confidence.

View and download the full report.

About Unisys 

Unisys is a global technology solutions company that powers breakthroughs for the world's leading organizations. Our solutions – cloud, AI, digital workplace, applications and enterprise computing – help our clients challenge the status quo and unlock their full potential. To learn how we have been helping clients push what's possible for more than 150 years, visit unisys.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

RELEASE NO.: 0721/10061

Unisys and other Unisys products and services mentioned herein, as well as their respective logos, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Unisys Corporation. Any other brand or product referenced herein is acknowledged to be a trademark or registered trademark of its respective holder.

UIS-C 

Correction: An earlier version of this release was incorrectly missing two instances of a link to the Unisys AI & Cloud Insights Report 2026.

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SOURCE Unisys Corporation

FAQ

What is the Unisys (UIS) AI & Cloud Insights Report 2026 about?

The Unisys AI & Cloud Insights Report 2026 analyzes how organizations turn AI and cloud investments into outcomes. According to Unisys, it surveys 1,000 senior decision-makers on architecture, agentic AI adoption, operational efficiency and cybersecurity trends across the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific.

How many organizations report having the right AI and cloud architecture in the Unisys (UIS) 2026 report?

According to Unisys, 90% of surveyed organizations say they have the right architecture for large-scale data-driven decision-making. This is up from 72% in 2025, highlighting strong perceived technical readiness for AI and cloud environments despite lagging business performance metrics.

What does the Unisys (UIS) report say about cybersecurity breach rates in 2026?

The report finds that 49% of organizations experienced a cybersecurity breach in the past 12 months. According to Unisys, this is nearly three times higher than the prior year’s 17%, underscoring growing cyber risk as AI and cloud systems gain greater autonomy and data access.

How widely is agentic AI being adopted, according to the Unisys (UIS) AI & Cloud Insights Report 2026?

According to Unisys, 75% of organizations say agentic AI will be essential for managing cloud environments, but only 23% have begun scaling it. Most, 77%, remain in early adoption stages while working on use case identification, upskilling and vendor partnerships.

What gap between technology and business outcomes does Unisys (UIS) highlight in its 2026 report?

Unisys reports that 65% of organizations say operational efficiency exceeds expectations, down from 80% in 2025. This suggests technical confidence in AI and cloud is rising faster than measurable business gains, prompting a need to better align investments with operational and commercial goals.

How do organizations view cloud security’s role in innovation in the Unisys (UIS) 2026 study?

According to Unisys, 96% of organizations say their cloud security approach enhances their ability to adopt new technologies faster than competitors. Additionally, 93% report that cloud security capabilities significantly affect how much autonomy they grant AI systems, linking security directly to innovation strategy.