Nearly all senior leaders (96%) expect agentic AI to become critical to business strategy within two years. Yet fewer than a quarter (23%) believe they currently have the infrastructure and strategy required to support it.
According to a Harvard Business Review Analytic Services Pulse Survey, sponsored by telemetry specialist Cribl, many organisations are still relying on systems more than a decade old — creating a significant barrier to effective AI deployment.
Outdated infrastructure slowing progress
The findings highlight a growing mismatch between ambition and capability. Existing environments were not designed to handle the scale, speed, and complexity of agentic AI, limiting organisations’ ability to extract value from new technologies.
This challenge is echoed in Nutanix’s latest Enterprise Cloud Index report. It found that 68% of respondents say their on-premises infrastructure is not fully prepared for AI workloads, despite widespread expectations that multiple AI-powered applications will be in use within three years.
As a result, many organisations are increasing their reliance on managed service providers, raising concerns around data sovereignty - particularly in highly regulated sectors such as financial services.
Investment rising, but strategy still lacking
The HBR report found that 82% of organisations expect to increase investment to meet AI infrastructure demands. However, spending alone is unlikely to solve the problem.
To support agentic AI effectively, organisations must rethink their data architecture to enable better reasoning and decision-making by AI agents, the report suggests.
People, processes and governance remain critical
Nutanix also highlights that infrastructure is only part of the challenge. Executives cite process inefficiencies, leadership misalignment, skills shortages, and outdated governance frameworks as key barriers to scaling AI.
The report concludes that success will depend not just on technology investment, but on aligning people, processes, and governance with a clear, organisation-wide AI strategy.
Supporting the shift to AI-ready infrastructure
TD SYNNEX is ready to support partners in updating customer infrastructures and paving the way for AI adoption through its Advanced Solutions team and the Destination AI programme.
Destination AI
Destination AI from TD SYNNEX is our comprehensive end-to-end programme designed to help you and your customers get ahead of the AI curve.
