Enterprises in the U.K. are rethinking infrastructure strategies as AI workloads, energy constraints and evolving regulations change the conditions under which they operate, according to a new research report published today by Information Services Group (ISG), a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm. The 2026 ISG Provider Lens® Private/Hybrid Cloud — Data Center Services report for the UK finds that changing economic conditions, tightening sustainability requirements and expanding AI deployments are reshaping enterprise infrastructure priorities.
U.K. enterprises prioritizing AI-ready, sovereign, and sustainable cloud infrastructure.
67 providers evaluated across four quadrants: AI-ready Infrastructure Managed Services, Managed Cloud Hosting, Resilient Infrastructure Services, Sustainable Colocation Services.
Leaders include Claranet, DXC, Hexaware, Kyndryl, NTT DATA, Pulsant, Rackspace, Accenture, Atos, Capgemini, Coforge, Cognizant, Computacenter, CyrusOne, Digital Realty, Ensono, Equinix, Global Switch, HCLTech, Infosys, LTM, TCS, Telefónica Tech, Telehouse, Unisys, VIRTUS, Wipro.
CS Global IT named global ISG CX Star Performer for 2026.
Organizations seeking providers that can modernize legacy environments into AI-integrated platforms.
Mathew Hannon, director and U.K. public sector lead at ISG, stated: "AI is fundamentally changing how enterprises evaluate cloud infrastructure. Organizations increasingly expect providers to combine operational resilience, sustainable infrastructure and AI-enabled automation to support long-term business priorities."
U.K. enterprises are seeking providers that can modernize legacy environments into containerized, AI-integrated platforms rather than maintaining them in a steady state. As official support ends for most legacy systems, organizations are implementing AI-ready foundations that reduce technical debt and accelerate innovation.
As generative AI moves from experimentation to production, companies are placing greater emphasis on sovereign infrastructure, secure data governance and private AI deployments. Organizations increasingly want to keep sensitive data and AI models within the U.K. to comply with evolving regulatory requirements and reduce cross-border risk. When making infrastructure decisions, they are balancing governance, jurisdictional control and performance.
U.K. enterprises are strengthening operational resilience by adopting FinOps practices and migrating from traditional disaster recovery to continuous availability across hybrid cloud environments. As workloads shift between public clouds, hosted infrastructure and edge systems, organizations are seeking greater visibility and cost control while addressing skills shortages. Providers are embedding AI for IT operations (AIOps) and machine learning operations (MLOps) into managed services and investing in sustainable infrastructure capable of supporting increasingly dense, GPU-intensive AI workloads.
Meenakshi Srivastava, lead analyst, ISG Provider Lens Research, and lead author of the report, stated: "Organizations are evaluating infrastructure providers on their ability to support long-term transformation rather than isolated technology upgrades. AI-ready capabilities, sovereign operations and sustainable infrastructure have become essential considerations in complex hybrid environments."
About ISG
ISG is a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm. A trusted partner to more than 900 clients, including 75 of the world's top 100 enterprises, ISG is a long-time leader in technology and business services that is now at the forefront of leveraging AI to help organizations achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm, founded in 2006, is known for its proprietary market data and research, in-depth knowledge and governance of provider ecosystems, and the expertise of its 1,500 professionals worldwide.
