1. Pushing toward standardized development environments
Software development is evolving fast, and companies that don’t standardize will fall behind. Right now, 78% of organizations are moving toward standardized development environments. Why? Because inconsistency slows things down, creates security risks, and makes it harder to scale. If every team runs its own tools, configurations, and workflows, you get bottlenecks and avoidable failures. Standardization eliminates these inefficiencies.
Organizations are taking different approaches. Some rely on internal DevOps teams, while others build their own platforms, outsource to third parties, or adopt commercial cloud solutions. The fastest movers—those implementing standardization in under three months—already have the infrastructure or partnerships in place. Others take longer because they’re laying the foundation first.
In today’s hypercompetitive markets, companies need faster, more secure, and more scalable environments. Standardization doesn’t aim for control for the sake of control, but rather to unlock speed, reliability, and innovation.
2. Shift away from Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) has been around for a while. It made sense when companies needed centralized control over distributed teams. VDI is slow, rigid, and not built for modern software development. As organizations evolve, they move toward cloud-hosted development environments (CDEs) because they offer flexibility, scalability, and real-time collaboration.
Cloud environments let developers work from anywhere, spin up new environments instantly, and collaborate seamlessly. That’s why companies with a high density of developers are ditching VDI for cloud-hosted solutions. The transition goes beyond convenience and focuses on speed.
“VDI still has a place for highly controlled environments, but its role is shrinking. Companies that cling to outdated tech will find themselves outpaced by those that embrace cloud-native development.”
3. The developer-administrator divide, and autonomy vs. control
There’s a fundamental tension in software development: developers want flexibility, and administrators want control. This friction slows everything down. Developers complain about restrictive environments, long setup times, and limited access to tools. Administrators, on the other hand, worry about security, governance, and compliance. The numbers tell the story—while administrators believe they provide 52% flexibility, developers report it as only 36%. That’s a big disconnect.
And then there’s the issue of setup time. Only 7% of organizations can create development environments in under an hour. That means most developers waste time waiting instead of building. Despite this, only 14% of companies prioritize reducing setup times. That’s an efficiency problem, and it needs to be fixed.
The solution is balance. Organizations need governance, but they also need to empower developers. A standardized, well-managed environment shouldn’t mean rigid bureaucracy—it should mean efficiency. When done right, developers get the flexibility to build, and administrators get the control to ensure security.
4. Slow decision-making is killing innovation
If there’s one thing that suffocates innovation, it’s bureaucracy. And in many organizations, the process of approving new tools, configurations, or changes is painfully slow. Multi-layered decision-making and excessive oversight create unnecessary delays. Developers can’t access the tools they need, and projects stall.
The numbers back this up: 24% of administrators and 21% of developers say that IT and management approvals are a major roadblock. Organizations with low operational maturity struggle the most. The more layers of approval, the slower the process, and the harder it is to get anything done.
The problem is that while approvals are meant to ensure security and compliance, they often end up being a drag on progress. The companies that win are the ones that streamline decision-making. They empower teams, cut unnecessary steps, and automate workflows wherever possible. Slow approvals are a choice, not a necessity. The fastest companies recognize this and act accordingly.
5. Finding the right balance between protection and productivity
Security is vital. No argument there. But too often, security measures become roadblocks instead of safeguards. Organizations, especially in highly regulated sectors like government and defense, operate in “locked-down” environments that prioritize compliance over agility. While this protects against threats, it also slows down development, frustrates engineers, and stifles innovation.
The challenge is finding balance. You need security, but you also need speed. If your environment is so locked down that developers struggle to get work done, you’re losing competitive ground. The best companies recognize that security and efficiency are complementary, not mutually exclusive. The key is automation. When security policies are embedded directly into development workflows, compliance becomes a byproduct of smart processes, not an obstacle.
“If security is slowing down your developers, it’s time to rethink your approach. Compliance should be seamless, not suffocating. The most successful companies integrate security at every level without making it a bottleneck.”
6. Industry maturity and why some sectors are winning the standardization race
Not all industries are moving at the same pace. Some have nailed operational standardization, while others are still figuring things out. Government and education sectors lead in standardization maturity because they prioritize compliance and consistency. These industries thrive on centralized frameworks that ensure security and regulatory alignment.
On the other end of the spectrum, SaaS companies prioritize flexibility over rigid processes. They move fast, iterate quickly, and give developers more autonomy. The trade-off? Sometimes governance takes a hit. Retail sits somewhere in the middle—despite excelling in automation, many companies report dissatisfaction with their environments due to lingering inefficiencies.
What separates high-maturity industries from the rest? Simple: clear goals, structured automation, and well-defined platform teams. They don’t let fragmented configurations or outdated workflows slow them down. Companies that lag behind need to make a decision—either optimize their processes now or struggle with inefficiencies indefinitely.
7. Cloud and automation are the future of software development
If you want to see the future of development, look at cloud-hosted environments (CDEs). These platforms are a fundamental shift in how software is built. They offer instant scalability, seamless collaboration, and the ability to deploy environments in minutes instead of days.
Yet, there’s a gap between perception and reality. The report shows that 79% of organizations claim to use fully managed CDEs, but many don’t fully understand their capabilities. That means companies are investing in cloud environments but not getting the full value from them. The real winners are those that double down on automation. Only 7% of organizations can provision environments in under an hour, and those that do are leveraging automation at every step.
Companies that are still relying on outdated manual processes or slow VDI systems are at a disadvantage. The future is cloud-native, automated, and built for speed.
Key takeaways for leaders and decision-makers
The shift to standardized, cloud-based development environments isn’t just an IT initiative—it’s a business necessity. To stay competitive, companies must:
- Standardize with purpose – Streamline workflows, eliminate inefficiencies, and create environments that empower developers without compromising governance.
- Move beyond legacy systems – VDI had its moment, but cloud-hosted environments are the future. Organizations that cling to outdated tech will lose agility.
- Bridge the developer-administrator gap – Developers need autonomy, but administrators need control. The best companies strike a balance that benefits both.
- Cut approval bottlenecks – Bureaucracy kills speed. Fast decision-making enables fast innovation.
- Rethink security – Compliance shouldn’t be a roadblock. Smart automation can embed security without slowing down development.
- Learn from high-maturity industries – The best organizations align their operational processes with automation and clear goals.
- Embrace cloud and automation – The future belongs to companies that can scale fast, automate intelligently, and reduce provisioning times.
At the end of the day, it’s simple: those who optimize win. Those who don’t? They get left behind. The choice is yours.
