AI has rapidly become a core part of most companies’ technology strategies, resulting in measurable improvements to their business success metrics. Metrigy has just released its AI for Business Success 2025-26 global study of 1,104 companies. The comprehensive study evaluates how companies are adopting and securing AI, their plans for the future, what they’re investing in the technology, and the value they are (and aren’t) seeing from it.
In this issue of the newsletter, we’ll explore a few key findings from the study and provide additional details of this massive study in future issues.
AI Adoption on the Rise
Nearly every company uses AI in some capacity, with 53.6% using it extensively across all or most business units. The top business units using AI today are IT (81.5%) and customer service/contact center (77.1%).
Customer service, workflow automation, workforce management, cybersecurity, and employee collaboration workflow automation are the top five functions where AI is in use. Security concerns, lack of customer interest, and difficulty justifying the cost are the top three reasons companies don’t have plans to use AI.
Centers of Excellence Emerging
As companies evaluate new applications of AI, they need to get organized and disciplined about their AI strategy. As a result, 38% have started an AI Center of Excellence, and another 54.7% are planning to do so. The Centers of Excellence include a team of people with complementary skillsets and responsibilities who provide expertise, best practices, training, and guidance for AI decisions. The team tracks technology innovations and how they apply to the company to gain efficiencies and drive additional business metrics, including revenue, profitability, customer satisfaction, and employee loyalty.
A precursor to standing up a Center of Excellence is having a single executive in charge of AI: 61% of companies that have a Center of Excellence also have a single executive in charge of AI. So far, though, only 27% of companies have on person in charge of AI, most commonly the CIO or CTO, but AI-specific titles are emerging, as well. The AI owners overwhelmingly have technology expertise over business leadership skills, according to 93% of companies.
The presence of a Center of Excellence also correlates with more layers of bureaucracy, often viewed as a negative because it slows innovation and reduces flexibility. However, with all the AI activity in multiple business units, bureaucracy can be a good thing, ensuring fairness, standardization, accountability, and record-keeping. Overall, 45.2% of companies say AI is causing them to add more bureaucracy.
Technology decision-making is also changing in the era of AI. Because the pace of innovation is moving so rapidly, technology decision-makers can’t keep up with the details of every new development. That’s causing a dramatic shift toward having a high-level understanding of technology and trusting technology providers to recommend solutions to address their problems and opportunities.
