Nearly four-in-five UK technology leaders report strong or very strong demand for AI from their business, according to new research from technology consultancy Wavestone. However, seven-in-ten have not fully implemented the operating models needed to scale it.
For some time now, a growing body of evidence has highlighted a key disconnect between the ambitions of businesses for AI, and the real picture of its use in a company. With revenue impact remaining minimal in many cases, under two-fifths of AI leaders currently visualise the measured impacts of the technology on their firms, in terms of currency.
The latest example of the resulting gulf between expectations and reality comes from a new study of more than 200 IT leaders in the UK’s largest organisations. Wavestone’s poll exposes a widening gap between AI ambition and execution reality – with foundational areas such as data, governance and workforce capability being under-prioritised, and lack of AI-ready skills is the number one challenge.
Source: Wavestone
According to the leaders polled, demand for AI is now “widespread across the enterprise”. A total of 79% of organisations reporting strong or very strong demand from business teams, claiming this was also accelerating rapidly. In the IT function specifically, 92% said there was this level of demand at least.
At the same time, a sizeable portion of respondents claimed AI was already providing major impacts across that particular function. A 56% majority said it was enabling greater scalability of operations today, as well as 51% saying AI had augmented decision-making and improved the quality of outputs in the IT function.
But while more than 90% expect a host of other functions including saving time on tasks to become a reality in the next 18 months, questions remain about the extent to which results are being seen across organisations. According to the data, a maximum of one-third of respondents said any form of AI project was “fully implemented” across their IT function – while up to 53% said they were “mostly implemented”.
Source: Wavestone
But while this surpasses the dreaded piloting stage – where so many projects previously claimed to be stuck, constricting returns on AI investment – few firms have still fully embedded AI capabilities. Scaling now remains constrained by persistent challenges across talent, data, funding, and integration complexity.
In particular, human talent remains the key issue. Over 65% of organisations expect increased resource demand within technology, yet lack of AI-ready skills is the number one challenge while upskilling remains under-prioritised, creating a growing execution gap – and casting some doubt, if not on whether AI really is embedded in many IT functions, then on how much of an impact it is really making.
Gonzalo Gonzalez, associate partner at Wavestone, said, “Many organisations treat AI as a technology upgrade, but don’t execute the operating model transformation required to drive sustained value. Pilots often fail not because the AI isn’t capable or technically brilliant, but because the right training, governance and change management aren’t in place from day one. Organisations that succeed put the user first and build the right governance structure from the outset.”
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