Transform Your Enterprise Operations with Unisys Digital Solutions
Unisys provides high-performance computing, cybersecurity, and digital workplace solutions to help global enterprises and governments modernize complex operations.
Overview
Unisys Corporation is a global information technology company that builds high-performance, security-centric solutions for the most demanding businesses and governments on Earth. With a history dating back over 150 years—originating from the merger of technical pioneers Burroughs and Sperry Univac—Unisys has played a pivotal role in the evolution of modern computing. Today, the company focuses on three primary business segments: Digital Workplace Solutions (DWS), Cloud, Applications & Infrastructure (CA&I), and Enterprise Computing Solutions (ECS).
Headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, Unisys serves a diverse global clientele, including many of the world's largest banks, airlines, and government agencies. Their market presence is particularly strong in sectors where security and high-volume transaction processing are non-negotiable. The company’s core mission is to help organizations achieve digital breakthroughs by modernizing their IT environments and securing their most critical data.
Unisys provides a comprehensive suite of services including managed services, cybersecurity consulting, cloud migration, and application development. Their focus is on delivering "Better Outcomes," which involves leveraging emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, and quantum-resistant encryption to solve complex business challenges. By maintaining a balance between cutting-edge innovation and the robust reliability required for enterprise-scale operations, Unisys remains a cornerstone provider in the global IT services landscape.
Positioning
Unisys positions itself as a "trusted partner for mission-critical transformations." Their strategic messaging focuses on the intersection of security, reliability, and innovation. While competitors like Accenture or Deloitte may focus on broad business consulting, and niche providers focus on specific software tools, Unisys occupies a unique middle ground: they are large enough to handle global, complex infrastructure but specialized enough to provide deep technical expertise in high-stakes environments.
Their brand positioning emphasizes "Experience-Centricity," particularly within their Digital Workplace Solutions, where they aim to improve the employee experience through seamless technology integration. In the security market, they position themselves as leaders in Zero Trust architecture, moving away from traditional perimeter-based security toward a more resilient, identity-centric model.
Unisys targets the "Upper Enterprise" and Public Sector segments—organizations that cannot afford downtime and face stringent regulatory requirements. Their messaging highlights their ability to manage "hybrid" realities, acknowledging that most large organizations will maintain a mix of legacy on-premise systems and modern cloud environments for years to come. By positioning themselves as the bridge between these two worlds, Unisys differentiates from cloud-native competitors who may lack the expertise to handle complex, legacy-integrated ecosystems.
Differentiation
The Unisys product portfolio is defined by its ability to bridge the gap between legacy infrastructure and modern digital transformation. A standout offering is Unisys Stealth, a micro-segmentation security software that uses identity-based encryption to hide assets from unauthorized users, effectively "darkening" endpoints within a network. This zero-trust approach is a significant technical advantage in an era of increasing cyber threats.
In the realm of high-performance computing, their ClearPath Forward systems offer a unique environment that integrates traditional mainframe capabilities with modern Intel-based architectures, allowing organizations to run mission-critical workloads with unmatched uptime and security. Their Digital Workplace Solutions (DWS) differentiate through the use of advanced analytics and AI-driven automation (such as the Leonent platform) to proactively identify and resolve IT issues before they impact the end-user. This focus on "proactive experience management" moves beyond traditional reactive help desk models. Furthermore, their cloud and infrastructure services leverage proprietary frameworks to accelerate cloud migration while ensuring strict compliance with industry-specific regulations, making them a preferred choice for highly regulated sectors like banking and public safety.
Ideal Customer Profile
The ideal Unisys customer is a large-scale enterprise or government agency with complex, mission-critical IT requirements. Characteristics include:
- Company Size: Typically 5,000+ employees or $1B+ in annual revenue, though they serve mid-market firms with high-security needs.
- Industry: Banking and Financial Services, Government (Federal, State, and Local), Healthcare, Life Sciences, and Travel/Transportation.
- Technical Maturity: Organizations with a 'Hybrid' reality—managing both legacy on-premises systems (mainframes) and modern cloud environments.
- Budget Range: Organizations looking for high-value managed services and long-term strategic partnerships rather than low-cost, transactional IT vendors.
- Team Composition: A centralized IT department looking to outsource 'Run' activities to focus internal talent on 'Build' and 'Innovate' activities.
- Key Challenge: Companies facing significant security risks, regulatory hurdles, or employee productivity gaps due to fragmented IT support.
Best Fit
Unisys excels in three specific scenarios:
- High-Stakes Digital Workplace Transformation: Choose Unisys when your organization needs to move beyond basic help desk support to a 'Digital Workplace' model that prioritizes employee experience (XLA) and uses AI to predict and resolve issues before they impact productivity.
- Legacy Infrastructure Modernization: They are a premier choice for organizations running mission-critical legacy systems (like ClearPath Forward) that need to bridge the gap between mainframes and modern cloud-native architectures without risking operational continuity.
- Complex Hybrid Cloud Management: Unisys is ideal for enterprises struggling with 'cloud sprawl' across private, public, and edge environments. They provide a unified management layer that optimizes costs and ensures consistent security policies across disparate environments.
- Regulated Industry Compliance: When the cost of a security breach or compliance failure is catastrophic—such as in banking or government—Unisys’s 'Security by Design' approach provides a more rigorous framework than generic managed service providers.
Offerings
Unisys organizes its offerings into several key packages and service lines:
- Unisys Quantum™: Their flagship SaaS-based platform that integrates AI, automation, and analytics across all service lines to provide a unified view of IT health and employee experience.
- Digital Workplace Solutions (DWS) Tiers:
- Modern Help Desk: Traditional support enhanced with AI.
- Next-Gen Workplace: Full lifecycle device management and proactive experience management (XLAs).
- Cloud & Infrastructure (C&I) Packages:
- Cloud Transformation: Migration and modernization services.
- Hybrid Cloud Management: Ongoing managed services for multi-cloud environments.
- Enterprise Computing:
- ClearPath Forward® Software: For high-volume transaction processing.
- ClearPath Forward® Systems: Integrated hardware/software stacks.
- Specialized Services: Including Micro-segmentation (Stealth™), specialized Logistics/Cargo solutions, and industry-specific Government solutions.
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Introduction
Welcome to the Enterprise Buyer’s Guide for Unisys. As a global information technology solutions company, Unisys specializes in delivering high-performance, security-centric solutions for the most demanding businesses and governments. This guide is designed to help IT leaders navigate the complex landscape of Digital Workplace Solutions, Cloud & Infrastructure Solutions, and Enterprise Computing.
In an era where digital transformation is no longer optional, Unisys differentiates itself through a focus on 'Experience Management' and 'Hybrid Cloud Optimization.' You will learn about the Unisys 'Quantum' platform, their unique approach to Experience Level Agreements (XLAs), and how they bridge the gap between legacy mainframe environments and modern cloud architectures. Whether you are looking to modernize your service desk with AI or secure a global multi-cloud footprint, this guide provides the technical and strategic insights needed to determine if Unisys is the right partner for your organization’s next phase of growth.
Key Features
Unisys delivers value through three core pillars of innovation:
- Digital Workplace Solutions (DWS): Focuses on the 'Total Experience.' Key features include AI-powered proactive support, automated device management, and the use of XLAs to measure and improve employee productivity and satisfaction.
- Cloud, Infrastructure & Edge (C&I): Provides a unified framework for managing hybrid environments. Features include 'CloudCenter' for multi-cloud governance, automated compliance monitoring, and edge computing solutions that bring processing power closer to the data source.
- Enterprise Computing (ClearPath Forward): A high-security, high-availability environment for mission-critical applications. It features advanced software-defined partitioning and seamless integration between legacy mainframe workloads and modern web services.
- Unisys Quantum Platform: A centralized engine that powers their services using AI and machine learning to provide predictive analytics, automated incident remediation, and a 'single pane of glass' view for IT operations.
- Stealth™ Security: A micro-segmentation security solution that hides endpoints from unauthorized users, creating secure 'communities of interest' within a shared network infrastructure.
Use Cases
Real-world applications of Unisys solutions include:
- Global Retail Modernization: A multi-national retailer used Unisys DWS to unify their global service desk. By implementing AI-driven self-healing on point-of-sale (POS) systems, they reduced downtime during peak seasons by 30% and improved employee satisfaction scores by 25%.
- Public Sector Cloud Transition: A state government partnered with Unisys to migrate legacy mainframe applications to a hybrid cloud. Unisys ensured that sensitive citizen data remained compliant with federal regulations while reducing infrastructure costs by 20% through automated cloud governance.
- Banking Security Transformation: A major commercial bank implemented Unisys Stealth to segment their internal network. This 'Zero Trust' approach successfully isolated critical financial transaction layers from the general corporate network, significantly reducing the risk of lateral movement during a security event.
- Healthcare Employee Experience: A large hospital system used Unisys XLAs to measure IT performance. By shifting focus from 'ticket closure time' to 'clinician uptime,' they optimized mobile device management for nurses, allowing more time for patient care.
Pricing Models
Unisys typically employs a 'Solution-as-a-Service' pricing model tailored to enterprise scale:
- Managed Services (DWS): Often priced on a 'Per User, Per Month' basis. This provides predictable OpEx costs and scales easily with headcount.
- Cloud & Infrastructure: Typically follows a consumption-based or resource-based model (e.g., per VM, per TB, or a percentage of cloud spend managed).
- Enterprise Computing (ClearPath): Licensing is often based on capacity (MIPS or cores) and can be structured as traditional capital expenditure (CapEx) with maintenance or as a flexible subscription model.
- Professional Services: Project-based work (discovery, migration, implementation) is typically priced as Fixed Fee or Time & Materials.
- Cost Drivers: Key factors affecting price include the level of support (24/7 vs. business hours), the complexity of the integration landscape, and the specific compliance requirements (e.g., FedRAMP, HIPAA).
Technical Requirements
Technical requirements vary by solution, but general enterprise standards include:
- Client-Side (Workplace): Support for Windows 10/11, macOS, iOS, and Android. Modern web browser (Chrome, Edge, Safari) for administrative consoles.
- Server/Cloud: Compatibility with VMware, Hyper-V, and major public clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP).
- Network: Minimum bandwidth requirements for remote management agents; support for standard protocols (HTTPS, SSH, SNMP).
- Legacy Integration: ClearPath Forward environments require specific Unisys-proprietary hardware or authorized cloud-based emulated environments.
- Agents: Small-footprint monitoring agents may need to be installed on endpoints for proactive analytics and 'Stealth' security features.
- Identity: Integration with SAML 2.0 or OIDC compliant identity providers is highly recommended for secure access.
Business Requirements
To successfully partner with Unisys, organizations should meet the following prerequisites:
- Executive Support for XLA: Moving from traditional SLAs (Service Level Agreements) to XLAs (Experience Level Agreements) requires a cultural shift where IT success is measured by employee sentiment and productivity, not just uptime.
- Process Maturity: Organizations should have defined ITIL processes in place, though Unisys can help refine these. A baseline understanding of current asset inventories and cloud spend is necessary for effective discovery.
- Stakeholder Alignment: Implementation often crosses silos (IT, HR, Operations). A cross-functional steering committee is essential to ensure the solution meets the needs of all business units.
- Change Management Readiness: Because Unisys introduces advanced automation and AI-driven workflows, internal IT teams must be prepared for role evolution, shifting from manual ticket handling to oversight of automated systems.
- Training Commitment: While Unisys manages the heavy lifting, internal 'super users' and IT managers will need training on the Unisys Quantum platform and analytics dashboards to drive internal adoption.
Implementation Timeline
A typical Unisys enterprise engagement follows a structured 16-24 week timeline:
- Phase 1: Discovery & Assessment (Weeks 1-4): Detailed audit of existing infrastructure, application mapping, and baseline performance metrics. Identification of 'quick win' automation opportunities.
- Phase 2: Design & Solutioning (Weeks 5-8): Architecture design for cloud or workplace solutions. Definition of XLAs and KPIs. Security and compliance validation.
- Phase 3: Environment Setup & Pilot (Weeks 9-14): Configuration of the Unisys Quantum platform, integration with existing ITSM tools (like ServiceNow), and a controlled pilot with a specific business unit or region.
- Phase 4: Migration & Scaling (Weeks 15-20): Full-scale migration of workloads or rollout of digital workplace services across the enterprise. Data migration and legacy system integration.
- Phase 5: Training & Go-Live (Weeks 21-24): Final user training, knowledge transfer to internal teams, and formal transition to steady-state managed services.
- Post Go-Live: Continuous optimization cycles begin immediately to refine AI models and automation scripts.
Support Options
Unisys provides tiered support designed for global enterprise operations:
- Standard Support: Includes 24/7 technical assistance for critical issues, access to the Unisys support portal, and standard hardware/software maintenance updates.
- Premium/Enterprise Support: Offers a designated Service Delivery Manager (SDM), prioritized response times (SLA-backed), and proactive system health checks.
- Global Delivery Centers: Support is provided through a network of global centers, offering multi-lingual support and 'follow-the-sun' coverage.
- Self-Service & AI: The Unisys Quantum platform includes an advanced self-service portal with AI chatbots and automated password resets to reduce ticket volume.
- Professional Services: For complex transformations, Unisys offers consulting, specialized architectural design, and dedicated on-site personnel if required.
- Training & Documentation: Extensive online knowledge bases, video tutorials, and structured training programs for internal IT staff are standard.
Integration Requirements
Unisys solutions are designed to integrate deeply into the existing enterprise ecosystem:
- ITSM Integration: Native, bi-directional integration with leading ITSM platforms, specifically ServiceNow and BMC Helix, to synchronize tickets, assets, and workflows.
- Cloud Ecosystems: Pre-built connectors for AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform for automated provisioning, cost management, and security monitoring.
- Identity & Access Management (IAM): Integration with Active Directory, Okta, and Ping Identity to support Zero Trust security architectures and seamless SSO.
- API-First Approach: Comprehensive RESTful APIs are available for custom integrations with proprietary line-of-business applications.
- Data Formats: Support for standard data exchange formats including JSON, XML, and CSV for bulk data migration and reporting.
- Technical Standards: Compliance with industry standards such as IEEE, ISO, and NIST for data transmission and encryption. Typical integration effort is moderate, usually handled by Unisys professional services during the setup phase.
Security & Compliance
Security is foundational to the Unisys value proposition:
- Certifications: Unisys maintains a robust portfolio of certifications including SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 20000, and ISO 9001.
- Industry Specifics: They offer HIPAA-compliant environments for healthcare and PCI-DSS compliant solutions for retail and finance.
- Government Standards: Unisys has extensive experience with FedRAMP, FISMA, and DoD Impact Level requirements, making them a preferred vendor for public sector contracts.
- Zero Trust Architecture: Their 'Stealth' technology implements micro-segmentation and identity-based cloaking to minimize the attack surface.
- Data Residency: Global delivery centers allow for data residency and sovereignty compliance in various jurisdictions, including GDPR requirements in the EU.
- Audit & Transparency: Clients receive detailed security logs, compliance reports, and participate in regular security reviews as part of the managed services agreement.
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