Identify and Evaluate Quantum Computing Use Cases

Determine the viability and value of the quantum processing of today and tomorrow for your enterprise.

Executive summary

Your Challenge

• Quantum computing is getting a lot of buzz from vendors making advancements with the technology; governments seem to be racing ahead with investments and research initiatives to develop the field; and market activity for quantum computing startups is picking up. What does it mean in terms of practical applications for IT leaders?
• What is the true value that quantum computing will offer, and how feasible will it be for your organization to pursue it?
• Identifying proven industry use cases and understanding real-world readiness is difficult in a nascent space with a lot of hype.

Common Obstacles

• Quantum computing has been under development for years with advancements in the research space, but it’s difficult to assess where and when different quantum processors will deliver business value.
• The opportunities of adopting quantum computing are hard to separate from the threat posed by quantum computing to information security. While migrating to new encryption standards is necessary because of quantum computing, it won’t require quantum computing.
• There’s many different hardware approaches to executing on quantum computing and vendors make various claims about their solution readiness. How do you know what’s really valuable?

Info-Tech’s Approach

• Understand where quantum computing is best at solving problems. Use problem archetypes to categorize quantum algorithms and identify potential use cases for your industry and organization.
• Consider the potential value of the solution. Weigh market factors and societal benefits as well as internal alignment with organizational goals.
• Judge the feasibility of the use case. Use external roadmaps to determine when quantum computing will address your use case, and consider internal maturity factors.
• Estimate a timeline. Start with when quantum computing could provide a true advantage, and add the desired timeframe that your organization would want to start leveraging it.

Info-Tech Insight

The quantum computing of the future will come from gate-based processors that can unlock simulations of dynamic molecular interactions. The quantum computing of today is analog in nature and creates business value by solving optimization problems.

Analyst perspective

The space between quantum first-movers and the fast-followers may be longer than other emerging technologies.

The rapid emergence of AI into the enterprise tech stacks may have created some unfair expectations for quantum computing among business leaders. With AI being rapidly integrated into familiar enterprise tools and valuable use cases identified across every industry, the expectation might be that the next big emerging technology will see a similar pattern of success. Quantum computing is being idealized as that next technology to cross the chasm from academic development to commercial deployment by many – look no further than CES 2026, which was packed full of sessions proclaiming that quantum computing “is now transforming key industries and disciplines” and a show floor demo of a ChatGPT-style bot that delivered “quantum solutions.” While there has been exciting progress in quantum processors in recent years and many vendors project having reliable chips ready by the end of the decade, the transition into the enterprise is going to be very different and far more difficult than that of AI.

Where AI saw broad application across industries, quantum computing will provide advantage across a very specific problem set. Where AI found an agreed-upon product approach with LLMs, the question of how to best approach a quantum processor remains an open one. Where AI was relatively easy to integrate into existing enterprise workflows through the creation of protocols using standard programming conventions, quantum computing will require entirely new programming frameworks that either haven’t even been created yet or are entirely unfamiliar across developers. With all that said, for some organizations – especially those in industries where the manufacturing must comprehend with complex molecular interactions – quantum computing will be transformational and should be pursued. For others running very complex operations at massive scale, optimization through quantum annealing can provide value today. Which path is right for your organization, if any exists at all?

Brian Jackson
Principal Research Director, Research Innovation
Info-Tech Research Group

Blueprint deliverables

Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:

Explore Quantum Computing Use Case Catalog and Template

Rate the value and feasibility from a combined external and internal perspective and estimate a timeline for readiness. Then prioritize the use cases.

Insight summary

Quantum annealing can provide value today

Much of the discussion around quantum computing focuses on gate-based quantum computers that require fault tolerance to deliver value. This misses the quantum annealers already deployed and delivering value.

Organizations using HPC today will be among the first to benefit

Quantum processing units will be part of hybrid computing systems that still leverage classical HPC clusters, offloading specific problems to QPUs. That puts researchers working with HPC in position for first-mover advantage.

All organizations must prepare for quantum’s security threat

Quantum computing’s threat to traditional encryption standards means that all organizations must migrate systems and data to post-quantum cryptography. The standards are available now and don’t require using quantum computing to migrate.

Value of quantum computation can be expressed in dollars

Assigning a market value for your potential use case is the simplest way to convert quantum computing capability into a clear opportunity for your organization to act on.

Feasibility considerations depend on your organization’s readiness

Assess the quantum computing vendor solutions all you want; if you’re not ready to act on the opportunity when it arrives, you’ll be behind the competition.

The best way to do quantum computing is an open question

Several different approaches to controlling qubits seem equally viable right now, and the industry awaits answers about the most reliable or efficient hardware to solve quantum algorithms.

Evaluation of use cases show that incremental value exists today in optimization and sampling

Only specific problems within these five archetypes will see true quantum advantage.

Today’s solutions are more suited to problems in these 3 archetypes.

Evaluation reveals we are still many years away from seeing advantage for most problem candidates.

The value potential could be high, but feasibility from an external and internal perspective determines if it’s currently viable.

Step 1.1

Understand quantum computing

Activities

• 1.1.1 Create your customized quantum computing glossary

This step involves the following participants:

• CIO or IT leader
• Resident quantum expert

Outcomes of this step

• Customized glossary of terms for your organization

Quantum advantage is on the horizon

Vendor roadmaps estimate providing commercially viable quantum computers by the end of the decade.

Signals that quantum computing is nearing reality:

• The DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative is investigating if companies working on quantum computing are on track to create a useful quantum computer by 2033 (DARPA).
• Quantum computer developers, including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and IBM, have made announcements about crucial steps toward more reliable and “fault tolerant” capability that could provide commercial utility within years, not decades.
• Quantum computing is seeing both public and private investment ramp up, with governments competing to be a leader in the next lucrative technology breakthrough and investment markets positioning for a first-mover advantage.

A growing market

• $450-850 billion revenue generated by 2035 (McKinsey, 2023)
• 1,900% Increase in quantum computing patents filed between 2014-2024. (EPO, 2025)
• $55.7 billion public money invested or announced through 2025 (Qureca, qtd. by EPO, 2025)

But a difficult path is still ahead for enterprise adoption

Research advances are real, but many problems remain to satisfy most enterprise return on investment considerations.

The promises

1. Gate-based quantum computers will allow enterprises to solve problems not feasible on classical computers by the end of the decade.
2. Gate-based quantum computers are “universal” and can be programmed to perform any computation.
3. Quantum annealers and “quantum-inspired” algorithms are providing commercial value today.
4. Fault-tolerant quantum computing will herald many scientific breakthroughs and yield trillions of dollars of market value.

The reality

1. Earliest estimates of real computational advantage are for 2029 and are represented by vendor roadmaps that have incentive to provide optimism. Government bodies estimate 2032-2035 as a likely period for commercial breakthrough.
2. Quantum computers will only provide an advantage over classical systems for a subset of specific, complex problems. Many different hardware approaches to creating a gate-based system are still being explored, each with their own pros and cons.
3. Some companies have achieved proof-of-concepts and even operationally deployed use cases here, but critics counter that classical systems could be used to provide the same value or close enough.
4. After quantum advantage is achieved, it will still take years for enterprises to learn how to use it to solve their problems.

Use cases will explore opportunities with quantum computing

Countering the risk of quantum computing’s threat to encryption is a separate matter.

Opportunities for quantum computing:

• Business use cases for using quantum processing units to solve previously unfeasible problems.
• Requires using a quantum computer or sufficiently advanced simulation of one using a supercomputer.

Continue to explore opportunities of quantum computing on the next slide.

Threats of quantum computing:

• “Q-Day”: On an unknown date in the future, when quantum computers can execute Shor’s algorithm to break public key encryption methods, it will signal the obsolescence of current encryption methods that organizations rely on for digital operations.
• The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published final standards for post-quantum cryptography. This encryption is designed to withstand quantum-computer–powered attacks and does not require the use of a quantum computer to implement.
• Organizations should create a roadmap to plan for their transition to post-quantum cryptography.

Info-Tech Recommends:

Go to this blueprint to defend against quantum’s threat to encryption: Prepare for Post-Quantum Cryptography.