AI Readiness Lags Ambitions: Survey Highlights Key Gaps Threatening Generative AI Success

Only 12% of organizations feel ready for agentic AI workflows, despite significant investments, underscoring critical data and infrastructure challenges

United Arab Emirates, Dubai, March 10, 2025 – Qlik®, a global leader in data integration, data quality, analytics, and artificial intelligence, today announced findings from an IDC survey exploring the challenges and opportunities in adopting advanced AI technologies. The study highlights a significant gap between ambition and execution: while 89% of organizations have revamped data strategies to embrace Generative AI, only 26% have deployed solutions at scale. These results underscore the urgent need for improved data governance, scalable infrastructure, and analytics readiness to fully unlock AI’s transformative potential.

The findings, published in an IDC InfoBrief sponsored by Qlik, arrive as businesses worldwide race to embed AI into workflows, with AI projected to contribute $19.9 trillion to the global economy by 2030. Yet, readiness gaps threaten to derail progress. Organizations are shifting their focus from AI models to building the foundational data ecosystems necessary for long-term success.

Stewart Bond, Research VP for Data Integration and Intelligence at IDC, emphasized:
“Generative AI has sparked widespread excitement, but our findings reveal a significant readiness gap. Businesses must address core challenges like data accuracy and governance to ensure AI workflows deliver sustainable, scalable value.”

Without addressing these foundational issues, businesses risk falling into an “AI scramble,” where ambition outpaces the ability to execute effectively, leaving potential value unrealized.

“AI’s potential hinges on how effectively organizations manage and integrate their AI value chain,” said James Fisher, Chief Strategy Officer at Qlik. “This research highlights a sharp divide between ambition and execution. Businesses that fail to build systems for delivering trusted, actionable insights will quickly fall behind competitors moving to scalable AI-driven innovation.”

The IDC survey uncovered several critical statistics illustrating the promise and challenges of AI adoption:

These findings stress the urgency for companies to bridge the gap between ambition and execution, with a clear focus on governance, infrastructure, and leveraging data as a strategic asset.

The IDC survey findings highlight an urgent need for businesses to move beyond experimentation and address the foundational gaps in AI readiness. By focusing on governance, infrastructure, and data integration, organizations can realize the full potential of AI technologies and drive long-term success.

For the complete findings and insights from the IDC InfoBrief Priorities and Challenges of Data and Analytics in the Midst of AI Momentum sponsored by Qlik, please sign up for the webinar and view the full report here.

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