Enterprises must embrace AI to reimagine their future, not tinker in the margins

Central to the evolution of society is the concept of creative destruction. It is the process where innovations replace and render obsolete older ones, thus creating new economic paradigms. This has been true across history, from hunter-gatherers to people navigating the shifts brought by agriculture, the industrial revolution, the advent of the internet, and now the artificial intelligence (AI) era.

We now stand at a fresh inflection point, arguably the most disruptive since the dawn of the internet—with AI poised to reshape how enterprises operate, make decisions, and deliver value. It is becoming the ultimate disruptor, capable of amplifying human abilities and accelerating business outcomes through real-time insights, dynamic personalized experiences, and autonomous decision-making. This inflection point offers enterprises an unprecedented opportunity to reimagine the value they deliver for customers and stakeholders alike.

Yet, despite the enormous potential, 83% of enterprises (part of this study’s survey) remain in the early stages of adopting AI, iterating in the margins. Initiatives often stall at the experimentation phase as organizations grapple with scaling challenges, unclear strategies, and a lack of ecosystem readiness. In fact, for one in two enterprises, many AI solutions remain at the experimentation stage (POC, pilot) and fail to scale. Although operational efficiency is widely cited as AI’s primary role, productivity gains will soon become table stakes rather than a differentiator. Recognizing this, enterprises are turning to their ecosystems to drive deeper, more strategic value—75% of them expressed openness to working with new, specialized, or non-traditional AI partners. This shift signals the transition from labor-intensive service models to intelligent, scalable, outcome-driven orchestrators of value.

We use AI in the underwriting space, and we moved from months and weeks of analysis work to actually hours and minutes.

— CIO at an international bank

HFS Research, in partnership with LTIMindtree, has studied the potential of AI for enterprises and its purpose, impacts, and manifestations. More than 500 business and technology leaders across five industries, including banking, insurance, manufacturing, retail, and media were interviewed for this study.

The key insights gathered reflect how enterprises are getting prepared for the age of AI.