
The AI landscape has reached a turning point from experimentation to execution. Our latest report, drawing from 200 Fortune 2000 IT leaders and the Mayfield IT Leadership Network, reveals a definitive shift from pilots to production. With 68% of organizations now running AI in production and 77% increasing AI investments in 2025, discover how leading CIOs are turning promising experiments into measurable business value.
Inside the report:
While 2024 focused on pilots and potential, 2025 marks the transition to production deployment and revenue generation. These seven insights, drawn from 200 IT leaders, illuminate how organizations are navigating this transformation—from scaling successful implementations to managing the organizational and data challenges that come with enterprise-wide AI adoption.
1. Al Investments Expected to Skyrocket
While Gen AI projects represented a modest 1–2% of IT spending in previous years, our survey reveals AI investments are set to more than double by 2025, reaching 4-5% of total IT budgets. But it’s not just about the money. AI has moved beyond the experimental phase and into the mainstream, with 68% of organizations already using AI in production. Even more telling, over a third of these deployments directly impact revenue or customer experience.
2. IT Budgets Poised for Continued Growth in 2025
The budget outlook for 2025 is notably positive, with 77% of leaders expressing optimism about budget increases. Gartner’s projected 9.3% growth in IT spending appears well-aligned with our findings.
3. Custom Solutions on the Decline
Organizations are abandoning custom applications and private data centers in favor of public clouds and pre-built solutions. This shift reflects both the growing maturity of available solutions and the increasing costs of maintaining custom infrastructure.
4. Legacy Vendors Face New Scrutiny
While established vendors (e.g., Salesforce, ServiceNow, Microsoft, Workday, and SAP) still dominate Al implementations with preexisting agreements, CIOs are underwhelmed by these offerings. Declining user satisfaction, rising costs, and complex implementation requirements are creating openings for new market entrants.
5. Al Governance Remains Decentralized
Decentralized AI governance is the current norm, with CIOs leading AI initiatives in 43% of organizations, while only 10% have appointed Chief AI Officers. This often leads to business units driving AI use cases and relying on IT for execution. However, data remains a major hurdle, with 42% of IT leaders citing governance and security as top concerns. Before deploying AI, CIOs must address data security, privacy, access, pipelines, labeling, and more.
These findings suggest a maturing AI landscape where the key challenges are shifting from technical feasibility to organizational integration and scale. Success in 2025 will likely depend less on selecting the right AI technology and more on building the right organizational structures and data foundations to support it.