A recent study conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value highlights a significant shift in how enterprises are integrating AI-enabled workflows. The research, titled "AI Projects to Profits," surveyed 2,900 executives globally and indicates that AI workflows are expected to increase from 3% today to 25% by the end of 2025. According to the study, businesses view agentic AI as crucial for improving decision-making and automation.
The report suggests that many organizations are moving beyond experimentation with AI and incorporating it into core business functions. As digital transformation progresses, 83% of respondents anticipate that AI agents will enhance process efficiency and output by 2026, while 71% believe these agents will autonomously adapt to changing workflows.
Francesco Brenna, VP & Senior Partner at IBM Consulting, stated: "We see more clients looking at agentic AI as the key to help them move past incremental productivity gains and actually gain business value from AI, especially when applied in their core processes like supply chain and HR."
The top benefits of agentic AI systems driving adoption include improved decision-making (69%), cost reduction through automation (67%), competitive advantage (47%), scaled employee experience (44%), and improved talent retention (42%).
Despite these benefits, challenges remain. Concerns about data security (49%), trust issues (46%), and skills shortages (42%) were identified as barriers to adoption.
Additional findings show that AI investment has grown to about 12% of IT spend in 2024, with expectations for this figure to rise to 20% by 2026. The study also notes a decline in organizations relying on an ad hoc approach to AI from 19% last year to just 6% today.
The full study can be accessed at IBM's website.