Parallels, active in the field of virtualization and end-user computing (EUC), recently published the results of its 2025 State of Cloud Computing Survey. The study reveals a significant shift in the EUC market, driven largely by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Faced with rising costs and increasing complexity of their existing virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), 63% of SMEs are actively looking for alternative VDI or DaaS (Desktop-as-a-Service) providers. Almost all SMEs surveyed (94%) plan to implement a new solution within the next 12 months.
"Midsize organizations are facing increasingly complex IT requirements without the budgets of large enterprises," said Prashant Ketkar, Chief Technology & Product Officer at Parallels. "They need to make their entire IT value chain more efficient while strengthening cybersecurity – from application delivery to cloud management to VDI support. Added to this is the need to enable remote working. These challenges are forcing organizations to rethink their infrastructure and application delivery strategies and look for solutions that are cost-effective, secure and flexible."
Key challenges with current VDI solutions
As part of the Parallels survey, IT executives from SMEs were asked about the biggest challenges with existing VDI solutions. The results show a clear trend: complexity, cost and management effort remain the biggest obstacles. Respondents ranked the following points as their biggest concerns:
- Requires too many IT resources
- Lack of centralized control
- Costs too high
- Excessive complexity
- Limited reliability and performance deficits
As companies have to deal with these challenges, there are several important factors that influence their decisions to change their IT strategy.
Key reasons for changing IT strategies
re-evaluating their IT strategies. This allows them to better align them with their current and future needs. When asked about the decisive factors for a potential change of provider, the study participants named:
- Rising costs (43 percent)
- Concerns about long-term support guarantees (26 percent)
- Lack of integration (18 percent)
- Uncertain product plans (13 percent)
These results indicate an increasing demand for solutions that minimize operational effort while offering long-term stability and seamless integration. IT managers are not focusing exclusively on the potential to reduce costs. They are also looking for trustworthy partners with a transparent product strategy and the ability to support evolving infrastructure strategies.
According to Gartner®, "Vendors are pushing for organizations to operate entirely in the cloud, but most SMBs continue to see benefits in a hybrid approach that balances the advantages of on-premises and cloud. CIOs or the most senior IT executives of the SMEs surveyed say that, on average, 40 percent of their applications and infrastructure remain on-premises." This underscores the importance of flexible solutions that support both cloud and on-premises deployments, according to Parallels. Such an approach allows organizations to modernize IT at their own pace without sacrificing performance, control or budget.
Cybersecurity budgets on the rise
As cyber security threats continue to evolve, SMEs are prioritizing stronger security measures in their IT strategies. According to the survey, an overwhelming majority of SMEs – nine out of ten – plan to increase their investment in cyber security by 2025:
- 41 percent said their cybersecurity budget will increase significantly
- 48 percent said it will increase moderately
- Only 9 percent plan to maintain current spending levels and only 1 percent expect a decrease
These findings underline how important cyber security has become – not just as a protective measure, but as a fundamental element of digital transformation and business resilience.
"What we hear from IT leaders is a desire for choice, security and simplicity – all without compromise. It's about solutions that are easy to deploy, operate and manage," summarizes Ketkar. "At Parallels, we focus on providing lean and powerful solutions for application and infrastructure delivery. In this way, we help SMEs to remain flexible, reduce costs and drive digital transformation at their own pace."
Survey methodology
The 2025 State of Cloud Computing Study was conducted in December 2024 with data from 600 IT professionals in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and the European Union about their experiences with the cloud. To see the full results of the study, click here. SMEs are defined as companies with 300 to 1,000 employees.
Gartner Attribution
Gartner, Midsize Enterprises Optimize Cloud and On-Premises Strategies, by Mike Cisek, Megha Bawa, October 30, 2024. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
About Parallels
Parallels is a leading global brand of cross-platform solutions that make it easy for organizations and individuals to use and access the applications and files they need on any device or operating system. Parallels helps customers leverage the best technology available, whether it's Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, iOS, Android or the cloud. Parallels solves complex engineering and user experience problems by making it easy and affordable for organizations and individual customers to use applications anywhere, anytime.
