See where AI delivers business value – and where it’s missing the mark.
AI investments have reached an inflection point. Enterprises must move from adoption to real outcomes. Data from our AI in the Enterprise June 2026 Top 10 Insights report reveals how organizations are approaching AI adoption right now – and which initiatives are actually delivering tangible results.
As part of Info-Tech's ongoing AI Adoption and Impact Study, over 500 senior enterprise leaders responded to our AI in the Enterprise Survey. The resulting report offers a timely snapshot of AI maturity, strategy, investment, infrastructure, vendor sourcing, and workforce planning. Leverage these real-world findings to inform your own AI strategy going forward.
10 key insights reveal the current state of AI in the enterprise.
These 10 critical insights unpack what AI transformation looks like today and where it’s heading next.
1. More than four in 10 organizations have cross-departmental AI adoption with measurable impact.
This finding differs significantly from media headlines about scant ROI from AI initiatives. Our data suggests AI has reached a maturity level where most enterprises have moved past the pilot stage to department-wide adoption.
2. CIOs/CTOs mostly still own accountability for AI, but risk losing ownership if they don’t drive measurable impact.
Although most organizations assign a CIO or CTO to lead AI initiatives, that model does not lead to the best results. Who owns AI matters just as much as whether you have an AI strategy.
3. Enterprises with an AI strategy triple their chances of getting measurable value from AI.
Organizations that still treat AI strategy as a planning exercise are leaving measurable outcomes on the table.
4. Better data readiness leads to better results with AI.
Organizations that are seeing department-wide AI adoption with measurable results are more likely to rate their data quality as excellent.
5. Most organizations chose buy over build for AI sourcing.
Eight in 10 organizations prefer to buy AI solutions over building them in-house. While buying AI solutions can be a shortcut to value, keep an eye on the market for new AI-native vendors that may offer the best solution.
6. Three-quarters of IT executives believe AI will disrupt SaaS.
Over 75% expect AI to disrupt their current SaaS model within two years, 28% anticipate AI replacing one or more major platforms outright, and 47% say AI will reduce reliance on some tools.
7. When AI is deployed without proven value, organizations plan headcount reductions.
Organizations with department-wide adoption but no clear AI impact are most likely to cut jobs. But organizations that can demonstrate AI impact are the least likely to be cutting roles.
8. AI adoption spans all business functions but remains concentrated in IT.
While 85% of organizations have adopted AI in IT, more than one-third (38%) have already deployed it to customer-facing functions. Take what you’ve learned from deploying AI in IT and use it to enable the rest of the business.
9. Almost all IT executives expect AI budget increases in the next 12 months.
Over 95% anticipate their AI budget will rise. Having a board-approved AI strategy builds confidence and support for your AI budget: 73% of execs with a formal AI strategy are highly confident their AI budget will increase vs just 34% of IT leaders with an ad hoc AI approach.
10. Cost-cutting goals rarely lead to effective AI outcomes.
Among organizations’ most impactful AI use cases, cost reduction was the primary goal only 11% of the time. Cost savings may follow impactful AI use, but they should not anchor AI goals and use cases.
Tech Trends 2025
Define Your Digital Business Strategy
Kick-Start IT-Led Business Innovation
Establish a Foresight Capability
Apply Design Thinking to Build Empathy With the Business
Sustain and Grow the Maturity of Innovation in Your Enterprise
Position IT to Support and Be a Leader in Open Data Initiatives
Double Your Organization’s Effectiveness With a Digital Twin
Develop a Use Case for Smart Contracts
Adopt Design Thinking in Your Organization
Accelerate Digital Transformation With a Digital Factory
Tech Trends 2024
2021 Tech Trends
Implement and Mature Your User Experience Design Practice
CIO Priorities 2022
2022 Tech Trends
Into the Metaverse
Demystify Blockchain: How Can It Bring Value to Your Organization?
2020 Tech Trend Report
2020 CIO Priorities Report
CIO Trend Report 2019
CIO Trend Report 2018
CIO Trend Report 2017
AI and the Future of Enterprise Productivity
Evolve Your Business Through Innovation
Build a Platform-Based Organization
Tech Trend Update: If Contact Tracing Then Distributed Trust
Tech Trend Update: If Biosecurity Then Autonomous Edge
Tech Trend Update: If Digital Ethics Then Data Equity
Tech Trends 2023
Formalize Your Digital Business Strategy
Select and Prioritize Digital Initiatives
Adopt an Exponential IT Mindset
Build Your Enterprise Innovation Program
Build Your Generative AI Roadmap
Annual CIO Survey Report 2024
Drive Innovation With an Exponential IT Mindset
Exponential IT for Financial and Vendor Management
Exponential IT for Strategy, Risk, and Governance
Exponential IT for Service Planning and Architecture
Exponential IT for People and Leadership
Exponential IT for Security and Privacy
Exponential IT for Applications
Exponential IT for Data and Analytics
Exponential IT for Infrastructure and Operations
Exponential IT for Project and Portfolio Management
Assess Your AI Maturity
Develop Responsible AI Guiding Principles
Identify and Select Pilot AI Use Cases
Exponential IT Keynote
CIO Priorities 2024
Build a Scalable AI Deployment Plan
Build Your AI Strategy and Roadmap
Develop an Exponential IT Roadmap
Use ChatGPT Wisely to Improve Productivity
Build a FinOps Strategy to Enable Dynamic Cloud Cost Management
Establish a Roadmap for Integrated and Dynamic Risk Management
Info-Tech’s Best of 2024 Mid-Year Report: AI Rewrites the Script for CIOs
Explore the Art of the Possible for Exponential IT
IT Management & Governance: The Next Evolution
Bending the Exponential IT Curve Keynote
Exponential IT in Motion: Transform Your Organization by Transforming IT
AI Trends 2025
LIVE 2024 Keynote Presentations
LIVE 2024 Lightning Round Presentations
CIO Priorities 2025
Info-Tech’s Best of 2024 Report: IT Moves Into Position
Build Your AI Risk Management Roadmap
Design Your Agentic AI Prototype
An Operational Framework for Rolling Out AI
The AI Vendor Landscape in IT
Run IT By the Numbers
Building Info-Tech’s Chatbot
Assessing the AI Ecosystem
Bring AI Out of the Shadows
Transform IT, Transform Everything
Implement AI for Customer Experience
Info-Tech’s Best of 2025 Mid-Year Report: IT Moves From Disruption to Decisive Action
Implement an AI-Orchestrated Service Desk
Info-Tech's All-Time Best, 2025 Edition: Change Is the Headline, Fundamentals Are the Path
Tech Trends 2026
The AI Playbook
AI Trends 2026
Info-Tech’s Best of 2025: The Year AI Stopped Being a Project and Became the Strategy
Publish an Annual AI Performance Report
Develop Your Agentic AI Prototype
Changing Landscape: Rethinking Vendor Decisions in the Agentic AI Era
AI in Seven Charts
Emerging AI Trends and Predictions From Our Global Technical Counselor Team
Turn Customer Friction Into Agentic Opportunity
People Change in the Face of Disruptive Technology
Lead IT Like a Business: Every Dollar Is a Decision
Optimize Cloud & AI Spend With Agentic FinOps
Leadership Summit: The Ultimate Onboarding Experience 2026
Resilience Is Not Planned – It Is Architected
Redefine What It Means to Be CIO
Navigating AI Agents in Service Management
Influence Unleashed: The IT Leader’s Superpower
The Challenge of Ethics in the Use of AI
Revolutionize Risk Management With Agentic AI
Introducing the Info-Tech Speakers Bureau
Inside the Agentic Enterprise
Agents 2.0: From Autonomy to Architecture
Agentic IT: From Hype to Value
Tech Trends 2027 Keynote
Become an Exponential CIO
Beyond the Agent: The Leadership Ecosystem for an AI-Enabled World
Five Key Takeaways From Info-Tech LIVE 2026
Info-Tech’s Best of 2026 Mid-Year Report
Identify and Evaluate Quantum Computing Use Cases
Get and Keep Your AI Projects on Track
AI Adoption & Impact Study: AI in Software Development June 26 Top 10 Insights
AI Adoption & Impact Study: AI in the Enterprise June 2026 Top 10 Insights