Enterprise AI use grows but readiness lags: survey

Publicis Sapient has published a global survey showing that most large enterprises use artificial intelligence regularly, but few say it is core to their operations. The study of 1,550 AI decision-makers found a gap between adoption and organisational readiness.

Overall, 73 per cent of respondents said AI is used regularly or across most business processes, while only 10 per cent said it is core to how their business operates. Almost half, or 47 per cent, said AI is already capable of meeting today's business needs, yet 42 per cent said their organisation is not set up to capture its value.

The findings suggest operating structures, rather than the technology itself, are a major obstacle. Some 22 per cent of those surveyed said the way their organisation runs is the main barrier to AI success, while only 38 per cent said AI is fundamentally changing how their business operates today.

Together, the figures indicate that many companies have moved beyond experimentation and introduced AI into day-to-day work, but have not made broader changes to systems, workflows and management models. The report identified legacy infrastructure and older operating models as recurring barriers.

"The enterprise was not designed for the speed, scale and autonomy that AI makes possible," said Nigel Vaz, Chief Executive Officer of Publicis Sapient.

He added: "Many organisations have successfully deployed AI, but deployment alone does not create advantage. The winners will be the companies that redesign how work gets done, modernise their operations and embed AI into the fabric of the business."

Regional picture

The survey covered respondents in the US, UK, France, Germany, Australia and the UAE, and found wide differences in how far AI has altered business operations.

The UK recorded the strongest reported business transformation from AI among the markets surveyed. There, 51 per cent said AI is fundamentally changing how the business operates, and 60 per cent said it is highly or fully embedded into workflows.

In the US, 41 per cent said AI is fundamentally changing the business, while 34 per cent said organisational design is the primary constraint on success. This suggests that more advanced adopters are increasingly focused on internal structure rather than access to the tools themselves.

France showed a different pattern, with 24 per cent saying AI is fundamentally changing the way the business operates. More than half, or 51 per cent, cited internal data as the main constraint on AI success.

German organisations appeared more likely to use AI within teams than across the whole company. The survey found 35 per cent said AI shows up as a "colleague" used by teams to support and deliver work, while 10 per cent said it is fully integrated across the enterprise.

The UAE showed strong levels of coordinated adoption across teams, but lower levels of full integration. Some 60 per cent said AI is connected across teams and workflows in a coordinated way, while 5 per cent said it is fully integrated across individuals, functions and teams enterprise-wide.

Australia focus

In Australia, the study described progress as steady but uneven. It found 53 per cent of organisations said AI is highly or fully embedded into workflows, while 38 per cent said it is fundamentally changing how the business operates.

This suggests a substantial share of Australian businesses have incorporated AI into routine work without yet reshaping the wider organisation around it. The report also pointed to the burden of maintaining older IT environments as a drag on broader transformation.

Harshu Deshpande, Vice President, Product and Engineering Lead, Australia, at Publicis Sapient, linked that issue to technology spending.

"Australian organisations are under pressure to move faster on AI, and while businesses are increasingly embedding AI into workflows, that momentum stalls if large portions of IT budgets remain focused on maintaining legacy systems," Deshpande said.

Deshpande added: "Modernising these environments to strengthen digital foundations is critical to supporting the next phase of AI adoption. Without that groundwork in place, scaling AI across the organisation becomes far more difficult."

Readiness gap

The findings also highlighted a broader mismatch between expectations and preparedness. In the US, 71 per cent of respondents said they expect significant progress in scaling AI over the next 12 to 24 months, yet only 20 per cent said their organisations are fully equipped today to meet those expectations.

Similar gaps appeared across every market surveyed, indicating that ambition is running ahead of execution in many large companies. Respondents came from organisations with at least 500 employees and annual revenue of at least USD $100 million, and included executives responsible for evaluating, influencing or selecting enterprise AI technologies and platforms.

Across all markets, only 38 per cent of respondents said AI is fundamentally changing how their business operates today.