By Staff Writer
Publication Date: 2026-02-25 11:00:00
As AI increased operational complexity and cloud costs, enterprises are rethinking whether their infrastructure is equipped to stay competitive, according to a new survey from HPE.
Conducted by HPE between December 15, 2025 and January 4, 2026, the study surveyed nearly 400 IT decision‑makers—including CIOs, CTOs, and senior technology leaders—who participate in the global Business Transformers Community.
More than two-thirds of enterprises are planning material changes to their virtualization strategy within the next two years; however, only 5% are fully ready, highlighting a significant gap.
CIOs and IT teams are increasingly worried about cost unpredictability, AI readiness, and the need for speed as they assess new virtualization alternatives to stay ahead of the curve.
Budget constraints (28%), technical complexity (24%), and migration risk (21%) followed closely by skills gap (20%) are cited as the top barriers slowing progress of the “Great VM Reset.”
Fewer than one in 10 enterprises (4%) cite licensing costs as the single biggest catalyst for virtualization, underscoring the urgency is less about cost, and more about transformation to a hybrid operation model and AI readiness.
Companies are taking a deliberate approach and not looking to just swap hypervisors. Data shows that more than half (57%) of enterprises are taking a phased approach to future proof their IT, with hybrid cloud emerging as…
