Apple @ Work is an exclusive presentation from MosyleApple’s only unified platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates into a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to automatically and seamlessly deploy, manage and protect Apple devices at work. More than 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to prepare millions of Apple devices to work effortlessly and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TEST today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.
Over the past decade, the strategy of many IT departments was simple: move everything to the cloud to save costs. The promise was moving faster, with less downtime and less maintenance, but as we get closer to 2026, the reality looks a little different for some teams. Parallels just released its State of Cloud Computing Survey 2026. The results paint a picture of IT teams slowing down their use of “cloud at all costs” because they are realizing that this is leading them to become vendor-locked.
About Apple@Work: Bradley Chambers managed an enterprise IT network from 2009 to 2021. Through his experience deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a mobile device management system, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi, thousands of Macs, and thousands of iPads, Bradley will highlight the ways Apple IT managers deploy Apple devices, build networks to support them, train users, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for IT departments.
Fear of supplier blockade
For me, the most striking figure in the report is that 94% of organizations are concerned about supplier lock-in. This statistic also confirms a lot of what I’ve heard from IT teams. SaaS has performed very well, but continued license increases across all of its tools have raised many of its costs to the point where teams are starting to question their return on investment. I know that when I start getting license renewals for the tools I manage at work, I’m in the same group. Something that was originally a three-figure purchase has become a four-figure purchase.
Nearly half of respondents said they were “very concerned,” citing uncertain product roadmaps and fears about future support as key factors. This tells us that the era of blindly trusting a single platform provider is over. CIOs are now prioritizing architectures that give them an exit strategy and flexibility if pricing or features change. The age of AI is certainly not helping here.
AI: Going from hype to help
In 2025, everyone was scrambling to figure out their “AI strategy.” By 2026, the dust had settled and the survey found that organizations were no longer interested in AI for its own sake. They want me to reduce drudgery. This is what respondents say:
- 47% prioritize AI for problem detection
- 41% want automated patching for applications.
- 39% seek to reduce administrative expenses
Most importantly, only 29% of respondents are willing to pay more for these features. This is a clear signal to providers: don’t use a chatbot and charge a premium for it. Create automation that truly saves the team time, or they won’t buy it. There are several places where I see AI in my tools, which helps me open fewer support tickets, but it doesn’t actually save costs for me, but for my suppliers. What will happen here in the next 24 months? I am very interested to see.
VDI fatigue is real
For Mac administrators, VDI may be a necessary evil for delivering Windows applications to macOS users, but the operating costs are becoming a burden. The survey found that 85% of organizations spend between 1 and 10 hours per week managing their VDI environment. This “hidden cost” of staff time is driving the change. Two-thirds of organizations are actively looking for a new VDI or DaaS solution, and more than half plan to switch in the next six months.
Summary: Hybrid is the new standard
Perhaps the biggest setback is the move away from exclusively cloud-based strategies. Nearly half of respondents (49%) are actively considering or planning to return to on-premises or hybrid models. The drivers are exactly what you would expect: cost volatility and data sovereignty.
When you combine security breaches (nearly half of respondents suffered one in the last year) with the rising cost of cloud computing, the pendulum swings back toward a balanced approach. IT teams aren’t abandoning the cloud, but they’re certainly becoming more selective about what lives there. Hybrid is undoubtedly the future and ensures flexibility in the long and medium term as SaaS tools look to increase prices to monetize their AI functions.
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Apple @ Work is an exclusive presentation from MosyleApple’s only unified platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates into a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to automatically and seamlessly deploy, manage and protect Apple devices at work. More than 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to prepare millions of Apple devices to work effortlessly and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TEST today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.
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