Why Most Businesses Are Not Yet Winning With A.I.

By Kim Basile, Michael Bradshaw & Maryjo Charbonnier, Kyndryl —

Artificial intelligence is no longer on the horizon — it’s here, embedded across enterprise functions to improve operations and efficiency, enhance customer engagement, and drive business growth. In fact, in this new survey, some 95% of enterprise leaders told us they are already using AI across multiple areas of their organizations. That statistic alone might suggest the initial era of AI adoption has reached maturity. But peel back the layers, and a more complicated picture emerges.

The technology itself is one major dimension. Getting your data in order, your systems to talk, your projects to scale — these are all very real challenges. But that’s only a piece of it — you have to bring people along in this transformation as well.

Despite widespread implementation, 71% of leaders admit their workforces are not yet ready to harness AI’s full potential. More than half report their organizations lack the skilled talent to manage AI, and yet CEOs and their tech leaders aren’t aligned on how to solve the challenge. Even more telling: 45% of CEOs say their employees still actively resist the technology. This dissonance reveals critical fault lines in the AI transformation narrative — ones that sit not in code or compute, but in the culture and capabilities of the workforce.

At a moment when businesses are racing to seize the benefits of AI, the real differentiator is not just who is using technology — but how they are using it, and whether their people are ready to run with it. That’s where our findings offer new value.

Our research identifies a small subset of leaders we call AI Pacesetters — leaders who are not only integrating AI across enterprise functions, but who are doing so in ways that earn workforce buy-in and drive business growth. These organizations are ahead of the curve not because they’ve solved AI, but because they’ve adopted concrete change management strategies for incorporating the technology into their workforce operations. They’ve taken steps to develop trust around its implementation and move forward with greater confidence.

At Kyndryl, we have taken a deliberate and responsible approach to AI given the mission-critical work we do for our customers and our focus on being an employer of choice. We overhauled all of our people-related processes and systems, so we know what skills we have, the skills our people need and have the learning programs in place to equip them for the future. Early on, we established an AI governance board to determine new use cases, a tiered AI education program, employee enablement campaigns, and access to Microsoft Copilot. We have learned many lessons on the way, both with how we use AI ourselves, how we bring our global team along the journey and how we deploy it with our customers to drive business growth.

The insights in this report are for every leader navigating the tension between technological acceleration and human adoption. Because in the age of AI, success belongs to those who align innovation with workforce readiness.

Survey Results

The new global study released by Kyndryl, a leading provider of mission-critical enterprise technology services, found that only a small number of organizations have taken steps to align their workforce strategies with the growth of AI technology. Those that have done so have positioned themselves ahead in the race to deliver positive return on investments in the technology.

Based on a survey of more than 1,000 senior business and technology executives across 25 industries and eight geographies, Kyndryl’s first People Readiness Report reveals a striking gap between AI investment and workforce preparedness:

• 95% of businesses have invested in AI;
• 14% of companies are deploying AI for commercial use while future-proofing their workforces;
• 71% of business leaders say their workforces are not yet ready to successfully leverage AI;
• 51% believe their organizations lack the skilled talent needed to manage AI;
• 45% of CEOs think most employees are resistant or even openly hostile to AI;
• CEOs and CIOs/CTOs have different views on the workforce impact of AI.

Workforce readiness varies by industry. Businesses in Banking/Financial Services and Insurance report the highest levels of preparedness, while those in Healthcare report trailing behind.

“Only a small group of businesses have been able to harness AI successfully for business growth,” said Michael Bradshaw, Global Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl. “This report shows that while data architecture and technology infrastructure are key pieces of the puzzle, organizations that do not prioritize their workforces will miss out.”

Despite widespread attempts at implementation, most organizations are not currently benefiting from game-changing use cases that will drive new products and services for their customers. Generative AI tools are the most popular use case reported by those surveyed, yet only 4 in 10 leaders report using AI-powered insights to enhance decision-making or unlock growth for their business. Just one-fifth of leaders say the primary use case of AI at their organization is to develop new products and services for customers.

Yet this research also reveals that a small subset of AI Pacesetters has leveraged AI for business growth while addressing workforce readiness. They are making strategic workforce decisions and seeing benefits across their employee population. Pacesetters are uniquely addressing 3 key barriers that are inhibiting AI adoption, and they are seeing benefits from their actions across:

1. Organizational change management: AI Pacesetters are three times more likely than others to report a fully implemented change management strategy for AI in the workplace.
2. Lack of employee trust in AI: AI Pacesetters are 29% less likely to cite fears around AI affecting employee engagement.
3. Skill gaps: AI Pacesetters are 67% more likely to agree that their organization has the tools and processes to accurately inventory the skills employees currently have. Four in 10 report no skills challenges at all.

“Preparing your workforce for the era of AI is easy to say, hard to do and an urgent imperative for business leaders,” said Maryjo Charbonnier, Chief Human Resources Officer at Kyndryl. “At Kyndryl, we run an entire ecosystem of culture and systems that readies our people and our business for continuous change. It’s about anticipating the business impacts of AI, understanding and integrating your skill data with your customer demand and having a multi-pronged approach for equipping employees to build the skills they need and learn to effectively use generative AI tools in their work.”

Compared to CIOs and CTOs, CEOs are far more likely to say their organization is still in its early stages of AI, and two and a half times more likely to say their infrastructure is inadequate to support it. This difference also extends to how they choose to solve AI-related workforce challenges and the individual skills they believe their organization needs to be successful. CEOs are far more likely to turn to outside talent rather than upskilling their own employees.

“The encouraging news is that businesses that can get alignment at the top are not only marching in the same direction, but are seeing benefits,” said Kim Basile, Chief Information Officer at Kyndryl. “This work isn’t easy, but aligning technology strategies with broader business goals is the top action leaders need to take to fully benefit from AI.”

To read the full report, visit Kyndryl’s People Readiness Report.

Methodology

The Kyndryl People Readiness Report surveyed 1,100 business and technology leaders in 8 markets to uncover how organizations are managing the pace of change related to AI and continuous technological innovation, the roadblocks they have encountered, and the actions they must take to better prepare their workforces.

The survey was conducted by Edelman DXI, on behalf of Kyndryl. Fieldwork was conducted via online survey and telephone interview between February 20 and March 21, 2025.

About Kyndryl

Kyndryl (NYSE: KD) is a leading provider of mission-critical enterprise technology services offering advisory, implementation and managed service capabilities to thousands of customers in more than 60 countries. As the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, the company designs, builds, manages and modernizes the complex information systems that the world depends on every day.

Kyndryl is committed to the health and continuous improvement of the vital systems at the heart of the digital economy. We co-create solutions to help enterprises reach their peak digital performance. For more information, visit www.kyndryl.com.

Source: Kyndryl