Parallels’ Survey Reveals Midsize Companies Lead EUC Market Shift: 63% Seek New VDI or DaaS Solutions, 94% Plan Implementation Within a Year

Study finds that midsize companies are seeking new VDI or DaaS solutions to reduce costs and the complexities of legacy solutions

/EIN News/ -- AUSTIN, Texas, April 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Parallels, a global leader in virtualization and end-user computing (EUC) solutions, today released findings from its 2025 State of Cloud Computing Survey, revealing a major shift in the EUC market driven by *midsize organizations. Faced with rising costs and the complexities of legacy virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), 63% of midsize companies are actively exploring new VDI or Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) providers, and 94% plan to implement a new solution within the next 12 months.

“Mid-market companies are facing growing IT demands without enterprise-level budgets,” said Prashant Ketkar, Chief Technology & Product Officer at Parallels. “They’re under pressure to streamline operations, from application delivery and cloud management to VDI support—while also strengthening cybersecurity and enabling remote work. This is forcing organizations to reevaluate their application delivery infrastructure strategies in favor of more cost-effective, secure, and flexible solution.”

Top Challenges with Current VDI Solutions

The survey asked mid-market IT leaders to rank the most pressing challenges they face with their current VDI solutions. The results point to a clear trend: complexity, cost, and manageability remain major pain points. Respondents ranked the following issues as their top concerns, with 1 being the most critical:

1. Requires too many IT resources
2. Lack of centralized control
3. Too expensive
4. Too complex
5. Unreliable/performance issues
   
   

As organizations seek to address these challenges, several key factors are influencing their decisions to change their IT strategies.

Key Drivers Behind Shifting IT Strategies

As the VDI market continues to experience disruption, mid-market organizations are reevaluating their IT strategies to better align with their current and future needs. When asked about the leading factors influencing potential change, survey respondents cited the following:

• Rising costs – 43%
• Concern over future support – 26%
• Lack of integration – 18%
• Uncertain product roadmaps – 13%
• Other – 1%
  
  

These insights point to a growing demand for solutions that reduce operational overhead while offering long-term stability and seamless integration. IT leaders are not only looking for ways to cut costs, but they're also seeking trusted partners with clear product direction and the ability to support evolving infrastructure strategies.

According to Gartner®, “Vendors push for organizations to embrace 100% cloud deployment, but most MSEs continue to find benefits in a hybrid approach that balances both on-premises and cloud advantages. MSE CIOs or the most senior IT leaders report that, on average, 40% of their applications and infrastructure remain on-premises.” This underscores the importance of flexible solutions that can support both cloud and on-premises deployments, allowing businesses to modernize at their own pace, without sacrificing performance, control, or budget.

Cybersecurity Budgets on the Rise

With cybersecurity threats continuing to evolve, mid-market organizations are prioritizing stronger defenses in their IT strategies. According to the survey, an overwhelming majority – nine out of 10 – plan to boost their cybersecurity investments in 2025:

• 41% reported their cybersecurity budget is increasing significantly
• 48% said it’s increasing moderately
• Only 9% plan to maintain current spending levels, and just 1% anticipate a decrease
  
  

These results underscore how critical cybersecurity has become, not just as a protective measure, but as a foundational element of digital transformation and business resilience.

“What we’re hearing from IT leaders is a desire for choice, security & simplicity without compromise—solutions that are easy to deploy, run & manage,” said Ketkar. “At Parallels, we’re focused on delivering powerful, streamlined application delivery & infrastructure solutions that help midsize businesses stay agile, reduce costs, and modernize at their own pace.”

Survey Methodology

Parallels’ 2025 State of Cloud Computing Survey was conducted in December 2024 with data from 600 IT professionals across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and the European Union about their cloud journeys to discover what's working, what isn’t, and what’s next. To see the full results of the study, click here.

*Note: Mid-size companies are defined as those with 300 to 1,000 employees.

Gartner Attribution

Gartner, Midsize Enterprises Optimize Cloud and On-Premises Strategies, By Mike Cisek, Megha Bawa, 30 October 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 global leading brand in cross-platform solutions that make it simple for businesses 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 out there, whether it’s Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, iOS, Android, or the cloud. Parallels solves complex engineering and user-experience problems by making it simple and cost-effective for businesses and individual customers to use applications anywhere, anytime. Parallels is part of the Alludo™ portfolio. For more information, please visit www.parallels.com.

© 2025 Parallels International GmbH. All rights reserved. Parallels is a trademark or registered trademark of Parallels International GmbH. in Canada, the United States and/or elsewhere. Mac is a trademark of Apple Inc. Android and ChromeOS are trademarks of Google LLC. All other company, product and service names, logos, brands and any registered or unregistered trademarks mentioned are used for identification purposes only and remain the exclusive property of their respective owners. For all notices and legal information please visit www.parallels.com/about/legal/.

Ashley Ruess
ashley.ruess@alludo.com

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Mid-sized businesses currently seeking new DaaS/VDI solutions

63% of mid-size businesses are currently seeking a new DaaS/VDI solution.

Timeframe for implementation

Nearly all mid-sized organizations expect to implement new DaaS/VDI solutions this year.

Reasons for changing IT strategies

Mid-sized businesses cite rising costs and uncertainty around future support as key drivers influencing a reevaluation of their current IT strategies.

Challenges with current DaaS/VDI solutions

Mid-sized businesses report that today’s DaaS and VDI tools require too many IT resources and lack centralized control, highlighting a need for simpler, more efficient solutions.

Cybersecurity budgets in 2025

Nearly 90% of mid-sized businesses plan to increase their cybersecurity budgets in 2025, with 41% significantly boosting their investment.