Enterprises are pouring investment into HCM platforms like Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, and Oracle HCM in 2026, and CHROs have never been more focused on getting it right: a recent CHRO survey found 91% now rank AI and workplace digitization as their top concern, ahead of governance, engagement, and talent combined. And yet, according to Gartner research cited across the HCM implementation industry, 55% of major HR technology projects still run over budget, run over schedule, or fail to meet their primary goals.
The software usually isn’t the problem
That statistic should stop HR and IT leaders in their tracks, because it means more than half of these projects aren’t failing due to the platform not doing what it’s supposed to do. Implementation specialists who’ve run hundreds of these projects point to the same recurring culprits: unclear ownership of business processes, leadership alignment gaps, weak change management, and poor data quality heading into migration. A typical enterprise HCM implementation touches HR, IT, finance, and operations simultaneously, runs 6 to 14 months, and carries a price tag well into six figures, which means a stall or a scope failure isn’t a minor inconvenience. It’s a multi-department disruption with a real cost attached.
AI is raising the stakes, not lowering them
Adding to the pressure: large enterprises are now conducting AI-readiness reviews across the core systems they assumed were settled for the next decade, including HCM. CHROs and CIOs are asking whether their current platform is genuinely AI-native or just running consumption-based AI features bolted onto a decade-old engine. That question alone is prompting some organizations to reconsider platforms they’d otherwise have left untouched, which means 2026 is shaping up to be a year of both new implementations and unplanned re-evaluations, often on compressed timelines.
Where the real risk hides
The pattern implementation experts describe again and again is a technology rollout that goes reasonably well on paper but stalls in the details: supervisory org structures that don’t map to how the business actually operates, a hypercare period that isn’t staffed heavily enough to catch friction points before they become adoption failures, or a data migration plan that looked complete until go-live exposed the gaps. None of that shows up in a vendor’s implementation timeline; it shows up in the first two months of live usage, when it’s most expensive to fix.
Where ClearBridge fits
This is where ClearBridge’s Enterprise Applications practice adds the most value: not in selling you a platform, but in providing the people who ensure the platform actually works the way your organization needs it to. That means consultants who understand HCM configuration and data migration discipline, project resources who can hold the line on scope and ownership when a project starts to drift, and dedicated support during the hypercare window when most implementations either cement their value or quietly start failing.
Whether you’re mid-implementation and starting to see the warning signs, staffing up for an AI-readiness review of your current HCM stack, or planning a rollout from scratch, the difference between the 55% that miss the mark and the ones that don’t usually comes down to who’s in the room doing the work.
If your HCM project needs the right people, not just the right platform, let’s talk.
According to IBM’s Cost of Data Breach Report, healthcare organizations incur the highest cost for data breaches of any industry, averaging $9.8 million per incident, more than 1.5 times the financial services industry’s $6.1 million. There is also a notable shift in attacker motivation, with espionage-driven attacks (actors after intellectual property and patient research data rather than a ransom payout) accounting for a much larger share of incidents than in prior years. Those actors are harder to catch because they aren’t trying to draw attention to themselves.
Healthcare IT leaders are heading into the back half of 2026 facing a collision of pressures: a looming overhaul of HIPAA’s Security Rule, breach costs that keep setting records, and a workforce gap that most organizations openly admit they can’t close on their own.
The compliance clock is ticking
The Office for Civil Rights is moving toward finalizing long-anticipated updates to the HIPAA Security Rule this year. The direction is clear: system-level, continuous risk analysis is becoming the baseline expectation, not a once-a-year checkbox exercise. Organizations that treat their last risk assessment as “done” are exactly where regulators are expected to look first.
That’s a meaningful operational shift for provider organizations that have historically run security reviews as an annual project rather than a standing discipline.
The cost of getting it wrong keeps climbing
Many government agencies canat’s where VMware Cloud Foundation comes in.
VMware Cloud Foundation Makes AI a Native Capability
VMware Cloud Foundation transforms the private cloud into an AI-ready platform by integrating virtualization, Kubernetes, networking, storage, security, automation, and lifecycle management into a unified operating environment.
Rather than treating AI as a separate project, VCF enables agencies to incorporate AI directly into their existing infrastructure.
With VMware Private AI technologies, agencies can bring advanced language models to their data. This approach allows organizations to:
- Keep sensitive information within secure environments
- Reduce the risks associated with moving data externally
- Improve AI performance by leveraging local infrastructure
- Accelerate deployment of generative AI applications
- Maintain governance and compliance requirements
The result is a secure foundation for adopting AI without compromising operational control.
Automation is Essential for Scaling AI
As agencies deploy more AI workloads, manual infrastructure management quickly becomes a bottleneck. Platform engineering and automation are critical to delivering AI services consistently and securely.
Using technologies such as:
- VMware Aria Automation
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
- Terraform
- GitOps
- Kubernetes
- CI/CD pipelines
organizations can automate infrastructure provisioning, policy enforcement, application deployment, and lifecycle management. Automation enables IT teams to spend less time managing infrastructure and more time delivering mission capabilities.
Security Must Be Embedded From the Start
Government AI initiatives require security at every layer of the infrastructure stack. VMware Cloud Foundation supports this through:
- Integrated Zero Trust networking
- Microsegmentation with VMware NSX
- Identity-based access controls
- Infrastructure lifecycle management
- Continuous monitoring
- Policy-driven automation
- Built-in compliance capabilities
Rather than adding security after deployment, agencies can build secure-by-design AI platforms from day one.
Observability Keeps AI Operations Running
AI environments generate significant infrastructure demands. Maintaining visibility across compute, storage, networking, Kubernetes clusters, and applications is essential for operational success. Modern observability platforms provide insights into:
- Infrastructure health
- Resource utilization
- AI workload performance
- Capacity planning
- Security events
- System availability
With proactive monitoring and analytics, agencies can identify issues before they affect mission-critical operations.
How ClearBridge Helps Government Organizations Prepare for AI
Successfully implementing an AI-ready private cloud requires expertise across infrastructure, automation, security, networking, and cloud operations. ClearBridge helps federal agencies modernize their environments with consultants experienced in:
- VMware Cloud Foundation design and implementation
- Private cloud modernization
- Kubernetes platform engineering
- VMware NSX and Zero Trust architectures
- VMware Aria Automation
- Infrastructure as Code using Terraform
- Platform engineering and GitOps
- AI-ready infrastructure planning
- Observability and operations
- Secure cloud migrations
Whether agencies are modernizing existing VMware environments, preparing for AI initiatives, or building scalable private cloud platforms, ClearBridge provides the technical expertise needed to accelerate deployment while reducing implementation risk.
Preparing for the Next Phase of Government AI
America’s AI Action Plan signals a clear direction: AI will become an increasingly important part of government operations. The agencies that succeed won’t simply deploy AI applications; they’ll build secure, scalable platforms that support AI for years to come. A private cloud powered by VMware Cloud Foundation provides a practical path forward, enabling agencies to harness advanced AI capabilities while maintaining security, governance, and operational control of their missions demand.
Partner with ClearBridge
As a VMware by Broadcom premier strategic partner with deep expertise in VMware Cloud Foundation, private cloud modernization, automation, and platform engineering, ClearBridge helps government organizations build the AI-ready infrastructure needed to support tomorrow’s mission-critical workloads.
Ready to prepare your infrastructure for the next generation of AI? Contact ClearBridge to learn how our VMware experts can help you build a secure, scalable, AI-ready private cloud.
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