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2026 IT Leader Research

The State of AI Ownership, Agents, and ROI

As AI budgets grow, IT leaders are under more pressure to prove ROI. A majority expect their AI spend to increase, even as those budgets remain fragmented. At the same time, there’s a persistent gap between data and business context that’s holding results back.

Our new survey of 1,400 IT leaders reveals where AI is delivering the strongest returns, why giving business users access to data hasn’t lived up to its promise, and how leading organizations are building the business context needed to scale AI with trust.

What you’ll learn in this report:

  • Why 80% of organizations expect AI spend to increase, even as ROI proof becomes harder to come by
  • The factor that 77% of IT leaders say is most important for successful AI initiatives
  • Why only 18% of organizations have achieved true self-service access to their data, and what that bottleneck is costing them
  • What separates the 7% of organizations already ahead of the AI curve from everyone else

Download the report to learn more about where IT leaders are placing their biggest bets and what’s still a work in progress.

 

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