Many organisations are committing to and are spending on AI, but don’t have the hardware and operational foundations, or the effective data management, to make good use of the technology. The good news is that those that did build for AI are reaping the rewards.
► Spending on AI surged by 110% over the year
► Organisations that build firm foundations for adoption achieve 160% ROI
► Fragmented data, ungoverned agents, disconnected workflows, and accountability gaps mean situation in many enterprises is ‘chaos’
According to ServiceNow’s Enterprise AI Maturity Index 2026, AI spending surged by 110% in the past year. The average AI maturity score rose to 51, up from last year’s 35. But the company believes that this score is indicative of AI ambition outpacing execution.
While many organisations spend plenty of money on AI, only 16% of them replaced fragmented, legacy systems with an integrated IT platform suited to running AI tools. Additionally, the 20% of organisations that the research identified as ‘Pacesetters’, i.e. having achieved advanced AI maturity, are achieving average ROI of 160%.
Data is the other big problem, with 71% saying they struggle with accuracy, access, and management.
ServiceNow emphasised that training, integration, and clear governance are also needed to make AI tools work and highlighted a growing cap between management’s approach to adoption and employee perceptions of how AI is being implemented and used.
The report described the situation in most organisations as ‘chaos’ with fragmented data, ungoverned agents, disconnected workflows, and accountability gaps that get bigger with every deployment. This is being compounded by agentic AI; while 59% are using it, only 9% have deployed it to create for autonomous or multi-step workflows.
The survey took in the views of 4,500 executives across 19 countries and 12 industries.
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