The era of AI experimentation is over. The era of AI accountability has begun.
That is the unambiguous message from Foundry’s third annual AI Priorities Study, published in March 2026 and drawing on responses from more than 538 IT decision-makers globally. Read alongside Foundry’s 2026 State of the CIO report, the picture is striking: AI has moved from the edges of IT strategy to the very centre of it – and the organisations that still treat it as a tactical add-on are already falling behind.
At Insentra, we believe this research deserves more than a headline skim. Here is what the data actually says, and what it means for technology leaders right now.
98% of Organisations Are Already in Motion
Foundry’s study opens with a number that should end any remaining debate: 98% of IT decision-makers are currently piloting, implementing, or upgrading AI technologies. Not researching. Not evaluating. Actively building.
The State of the CIO 2026 report reinforces this urgency. Generative AI (67%), machine learning and AI (66%), and agentic AI (65%) are the top three technology categories driving investment this year – ahead of business process automation and security. Eighty-three percent of IT leaders confirmed their organisations have – or are building – cross-functional AI steering committees.
If your AI governance structures are not yet in place, you are behind the curve.
Budgets Are Following Belief
One of the clearest indicators of organisational conviction is a dedicated AI budget line. In 2026, 65% of IT decision-makers report having one – up from 49% in 2025 and just 36% the year before. Nearly doubling in two years is not momentum. It is a mandate.
Ninety-seven percent of respondents expect their overall technology budget to increase or hold steady, with AI as a primary driver. For CIOs navigating budget cycles, the conversation has shifted decisively from “should we invest in AI?” to “how do we invest wisely and prove what it is delivering?”
The Business Case Is Strengthening – But Blockers Remain
Improving employee productivity is the top AI business objective for 2026, cited by 55% of respondents. And the evidence of delivery is growing: 70% of IT decision-makers now agree that generative AI is enabling employees to refocus on high-value tasks – up from 58% in 2025. That 12-point jump in a single year signals a shift from hope to proof.
But Nearly Every Organisation Hits the Same Three Walls
Despite clear momentum, 97% of IT leaders report challenges implementing AI. The top barriers are:
- Infrastructure and integration complexity - IT systems integration, governance, maintenance, and security remain the number one deployment obstacle.
- Cost of integration - 36% cite high costs of embedding AI into existing technology stacks.
- Skills and ROI gaps - Lack of in-house expertise (33%) and difficulty demonstrating ROI (33%) rank equally as the next most pressing challenges.
This is where ambition meets architecture. The intention is there. The frameworks, talent, and measurement tools often are not.
Agentic AI Is Now a Budget Line, Not a Buzzword
One of the most significant signals in Foundry’s State of the CIO report is agentic AI appearing as a distinct top-three investment category – separate from generative AI. That distinction matters.
Where generative AI helps people produce and summarise, agentic AI takes autonomous action – executing multi-step workflows and coordinating across systems without continuous human direction. Sixty-five percent of CIOs are already prioritising this investment.
For IT architects, this changes the game. Building for agentic AI means accounting for agent orchestration, permissions management, audit trails, and granular data access controls – not just model selection. Governance is not optional here; it is structural.
What This Means for Your AI Strategy Now
Foundry’s research maps a clear gap between where most organisations want to be and where structural, financial, and talent realities have them today. Three priorities stand out for IT leaders:
- Build governance before you scale. The near-universal implementation challenge rate is an architecture and governance problem, not a technology one. Get your AI steering structure and data access policies in place before the next pilot becomes a production deployment.
- Close the ROI visibility gap. One in three IT leaders still cannot demonstrate AI return on investment. That is a measurement problem, not an AI problem. Define value metrics upfront and instrument deployments to capture them from day one.
- Plan for agentic AI now. The shift from generative tools to autonomous agents changes risk profiles, governance requirements, and integration complexity. Organisations that treat this as an architectural decision today will have a material advantage in 12 months.
The Tipping Point Is Here
Foundry’s 2026 AI Priorities Study is a clear signal: AI is no longer speculative. It is the core of the CIO agenda, the driver of budget growth, and the lens through which digital transformation is now measured. The organisations that lead in the next 18 months will be those that move from experimentation to execution – with structure, governance, and a clear view of where AI actually delivers value.
Ready to turn these findings into a real AI roadmap? Visit AI Momentum to explore Insentra’s AI strategy and transformation practice and register to AI Pulse to stay ahead of the developments shaping enterprise AI right now.
