The Newsroom · November 5, 2026
89% of Businesses Cannot Move Critical Cloud Workloads Within Three Weeks, Leaseweb Research Finds — the gap between data control and workload portability, AI concentration risk, and what executives say they would pay for real exit options.
Nearly nine in ten businesses cannot migrate business-critical workloads away from their largest cloud or infrastructure provider within three weeks, according to the Leaseweb Digital Independence Survey 2026 — a result that frames provider dependence as a strategic issue, not only an operational inconvenience.
The finding is the headline result of research sponsored by Leaseweb, a global Infrastructure-as-a-Service and cloud provider, and conducted by Censuswide among 800 C-suite leaders at organizations with 500 to 5,000 employees in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. Fieldwork ran from September 22 to 30, 2026, with 200 respondents in each country.
Only 11% of those leaders said their organizations could complete such a migration within three weeks. For the remaining 89%, the practical exit path is slower — or blocked.
1. The Cloud Migration Challenge
More than half of respondents — 55% — said moving critical workloads would take longer than three months, or was not currently possible. That complexity sits behind the simple percentage: applications built on provider-specific services, identity systems, managed databases, networking constructs, and operational tooling do not move on the same timeline as files.
The survey highlights a consistent gap between data control and workload portability. Seventy-six percent of leaders reported complete or high control over their ability to move data to another provider or environment. Yet the same sample produced the 11% figure for rapid migration of business-critical workloads. Exporting data is not the same as reconstituting production systems elsewhere under time pressure.
Lex Boost, co-CEO at Leaseweb, framed the issue as one of real choice rather than contractual language: “Digital independence comes down to having real choices, and our research shows many businesses have fewer than they think. Organizations may believe they control their data, but once applications have been built around a provider’s platform, moving them is rarely quick or simple. With AI expected to tie businesses even more closely to a small number of providers, leaders need to understand and act on those dependencies now, not when a pricing change or geopolitical shift forces their hand.”
2. AI and Provider Dependence
Executives expect the concentration problem to intensify. Overall, 79% said they expect artificial intelligence to increase their reliance on a small number of providers over the next three years. By country, that expectation was 89% in the United States, 83% in the United Kingdom, 76% in Germany, and 67% in the Netherlands.
AI-related technology and provider dependence was the most frequently selected potential barrier to digital independence in the overall sample (28%). In Germany, legacy-system complexity ranked first (30%). The research does not assert that AI platforms are uniquely closed; it does show that decision-makers anticipate tighter coupling as AI services become embedded in core operations.
3. Geopolitical Considerations
Geopolitical risk is already influencing infrastructure choices. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said they have taken action to reduce reliance on a particular technology or infrastructure provider in response to geopolitical challenges — including 91% in the US and 87% in the UK. Forty-five percent overall said they plan to go further.
The juxtaposition is instructive: many organizations are actively trying to reduce concentration risk, yet a majority still cannot move critical workloads on short notice. Policy intent and operational flexibility remain distinct.
4. The Economics of Independence
Leaders attach a measurable price to flexibility. Almost all respondents said they would pay more to gain greater control, reduce provider dependence, or improve freedom to move. Seventy-three percent would pay at least 11% more, with an average premium of about 16%. Willingness was highest in the Netherlands (81% at least 11% more; 26% at least 21% more) and Germany (79% at least 11% more).
At the same time, fewer than three in ten treated regulatory and legal compliance (28%) or security and data protection (28%) as non-negotiable when selecting a cloud provider; two-thirds (67%) said they would accept at least a minor trade-off on compliance. Country priorities differed: availability and uptime led in the US (35%), provider reputation and trust in the UK (34%), security and data protection in Germany (30%), while the Netherlands tied regulatory/legal compliance and geopolitical or trade-related risk exposure (both 27%).
5. Regional Findings
Expected migration difficulty was uneven. The Netherlands had the highest share of businesses expecting a move to take more than three months (65%) and the longest average estimated migration time (4.7 months). The UK followed at 59%, the US at 55%, and Germany at 40%. Even in the German sample, four in ten leaders still anticipated a multi-quarter or infeasible transition.
AI dependence expectations were highest in the US and UK; willingness to pay for independence was strongest in the Netherlands and Germany. The survey therefore does not describe a single regional story so much as a common problem with different local intensity.
6. Industry Implications
For enterprise cloud strategy, the Leaseweb results sharpen three practical points. First, exit readiness should be validated against production workloads — integrations, managed services and runbooks — not only against data-export features. Second, AI adoption plans that increase use of provider-specific AI services may improve capability while reducing optionality; that trade-off should be explicit in architecture and procurement reviews. Third, geopolitical diversification only works if migration paths are executable under time pressure.
The research does not prescribe multi-cloud, hybrid, or sovereign designs. It measures self-reported confidence and migration timelines among mid-sized and upper mid-market organizations in four major economies. Broader questions — hyperscaler economics, migration cost models, alternative-provider competition and digital sovereignty policy — belong in longer-form Cloud Computing Watch analysis rather than this news report.
Leaseweb, founded in the Netherlands, publishes the survey in the context of its own sovereign and hybrid infrastructure positioning. The CODEW reports the findings as industry data on executive perceptions; commercial sponsorship of the research is disclosed so readers can weigh source incentives alongside the numbers.
Key figures (Leaseweb / Censuswide)
• 89% cannot migrate critical workloads from the largest provider within three weeks
• 55% need more than three months, or cannot migrate
• 76% report high/complete data-move control vs 11% rapid workload exit
• 79% expect AI to increase reliance on fewer providers (next three years)
• 78% have already acted to reduce provider dependence for geopolitical reasons
• 73% would pay at least 11% more for greater control (average premium ~16%)
Sources and methodology
Leaseweb Digital Independence Survey 2026, research by Censuswide: 800 C-suite leaders (200 each in UK, US, Germany, Netherlands), organizations with 500–5,000 employees, September 22–30, 2026. Statistics and Lex Boost quotation from Leaseweb’s public announcement. Leaseweb is the research sponsor and a commercial cloud/IaaS provider.
Related CODEW coverage
Cloud Computing Watch · Enterprise AI Intelligence · AI Infrastructure Watch · The Newsroom
Editorial Note
This Newsroom industry news report is for informational purposes. It is not investment or procurement advice. Survey results are self-reported and attributed to Leaseweb / Censuswide.
THE CODEW · The Newsroom · November 5, 2026
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