Many organizations have already declared their AI intentions. The finding from new IDC research¹, which surveyed more than 620 IT leaders across 15 countries in Q1 2026, show that 81% of organizations have a detailed AI strategy. Only 12 to 16% however, have reached meaningful AI-driven execution at the enterprise level. The rest are stuck between a promising AI pilot and the enterprise-wide transformation they are looking to achieve. This is what the IDC InfoBrief calls the ”AI execution gap”, where most organizations are blocked by gaps in skills, tooling, infrastructure, data readiness, and governance.

IDC defines three levels of AI maturity. First is Observing, where AI assists individuals but lacks enterprise strategy. The next level is Advancing, where AI is embedded in workflows with governance taking shape. Organizations reach full maturity at the Leading level, where autonomous agents operate at scale with responsible AI institutionalized.

Organizations failing to reach the Leading level share three persistent gaps:

• Fragmented toolchains: Only 13% of organizations report top-tier unified tooling, leaving AI disconnected from the systems where work happens.
• AI that lacks business context: AI agents need more than raw data. They need real-time business context lets them act with authority while staying within business rules and processes.
• Insufficient AI governance: More than half of Observing organizations have only initial risk-based guidelines and governance tools still being developed. Among Leading organizations, 45% have standarized governance embedded organization-wide.

There is a fourth pattern the data surfaces.  Organizational outcomes like productivity, customer responsiveness, speed to market, can only scale through deploying AI agents. Yet only 11% have reached agentic AI, because the same gaps in data, tooling, and governance that stall execution are what block AI agent deployment. Therefore, closing the execution gap and becoming agent-ready are the same move.

How do Leading organizations close the AI execution gap?

High-maturity organizations in the IDC InfoBrief: Enterprise AI Maturity Study Moving Beyond Strategy to Execution, share three characteristics that set them apart.

First, they treat AI strategy as a living document. Up to 90% of Leading organizations continuously update their strategy and coordinate it across both business and technology teams, compared to the ad hoc planning that characterizes lower-maturity organizations.

Second, Leading organizations invest more heavily across key areas: executive education (47% vs. 29%), managed platforms (36% vs. 23%), and change management (35% vs. 18%). Leading and Observing organizations are not investing in different things, but are rather investing in the same things at nearly twice the rate, widening the gap every quarter.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, Leading organizations have unified their technology foundations. They have consolidated tooling, connected data, and embedded governance, treating it not as a separate compliance exercise, but as the architecture through which AI operates. This is what converts process maturity into AI-driven automation.

The human side of the AI execution gap

The IDC InfoBrief surfaces a finding that many technology leaders can easily overlook. The biggest barrier to AI execution is not infrastructure or data, but people. Employee resistance, change fatigue, and a lack of AI literacy at scale are among the most commonly cited obstacles as organizations attempt to move from the Advancing to the Leading stage.

This aligns with what we see in customer deployments. Organizations that invest in role-specific upskilling, embedded AI champions, and purpose-driven change management programs move through the maturity stages significantly faster than those that treat adoption as a communications problem. The technology is ready, but the question remains whether the organization is.

The window is open, but not indefinitely

Only 8% of organizations globally have reached the highest level of AI maturity. But that is not a static position to rest on. With AI innovations landing every week and the floor of AI accessibility rising with each release, the frontier of maturity will keep moving.  That said, the competitive window remains wide open for organizations willing to move with discipline to be in the Leading category.

78% of IT leaders rate AI agents as having high potential to transform their operations. Only 11% have reached agentic AI. The organizations that close the structural gaps now will not just be more efficient — they will be operating in a categorically different way from the ones that waited.

Where to start

For organizations serious about closing the execution gap, the IDC InfoBrief points to a consistent starting point. Assess honestly where you are, not where you aspire to be. The organizations that accelerate fastest are those that have a clear view of their current maturity across strategy, people, and technology. They have a structured path forward that addresses all three dimensions simultaneously.

To find out where your organization stands, take AI Maturity Assessment, built on the IDC methodology and InfoBrief. You will receive a personalized report with your maturity score, dimension-by-dimension guidance, and a roadmap of next steps tailored to where you are today.

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