The Enterprise AI Maturity Crisis—and Why Agentic AI Is the Way Out
New global research just revealed something few enterprise leaders want to hear: AI maturity is falling, not rising.
In a world where headlines celebrate breakthrough models and exploding valuations, the reality on the ground is different. According to ServiceNow’s Enterprise AI Maturity Index 2025, the average AI maturity score across 4,473 large companies worldwide has declined from 44 to 35 (on a 100-point scale) in just one year.
Less than 1% of surveyed companies scored above 50. Even the top performer slid backwards—down 13 points year-on-year.
In short: AI ambition is up; enterprise readiness is not.
Why the Drop? A Closer Look at the Report
ServiceNow, in partnership with Oxford Economics, built the index using five pillars of maturity:
AI strategy and leadership
Workflow integration
Talent and workforce readiness
Governance and guardrails
Realizing ROI
Their analysis shows that most companies are facing a growing “vision-to-execution gap.” While nearly 70% say AI is improving their gross margins (by an average of 11%), very few are deploying it systematically, at scale, or in a way that is resilient to risk.
Some contributing factors:
Siloed deployments: Many organizations have 100+ AI projects but no unified approach.
Lack of guardrails: Most admit their governance frameworks are incomplete or reactive.
Talent shortages: Companies are unsure what skills are even needed for next-gen AI systems.
This is especially acute for Agentic AI—a type of AI that doesn’t just predict or generate but acts, executing complex workflows with autonomy. ServiceNow describes Agentic AI as “an orchestration layer that collaborates with other agents to pursue defined business goals.”
Sound familiar?
The Good News: Pacesetters Are Pulling Ahead
ServiceNow identifies a high-performing cohort—called Pacesetters—that make up just 18.2% of companies surveyed. These firms scored markedly higher across all five maturity pillars and are already achieving disproportionate gains.
Compared to their peers, Pacesetters are:
2x more likely to be deploying Agentic AI
2x more likely to report measurable ROI from AI investments
More likely to have unified platforms, cross-functional teams, and robust governance in place
ServiceNow estimates that if all Global 2000 companies reached Pacesetter maturity, it would generate an additional $113 billion in gross margin—with governance, leadership, and investment discipline being the top three predictors of financial upside.
Pacesetters aren’t tech companies alone. Service Now's Award recipients in 2025 include:
Canada Life (Insurance)
Lloyds Banking Group (Banking)
Orica (Manufacturing/Mining)
In other words: regulated industries are winning—if they approach AI maturity strategically.
(NB: these are all ServiceNow customers, so there's some level of self-serving in choosing them. Having said that these case studies are good).
Why Agentic AI Is the Turning Point
The report is unambiguous: Agentic AI is still in early adoption, but it’s where the biggest future gains lie. Yet only 33% of companies have reached even pilot stage, and just 19% are actively using it today.
This gap presents both a risk and a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
Agentic AI enables what previous AI waves could not:
Digital workers that coordinate autonomously
End-to-end workflow execution
Real-time orchestration across silos
But getting there isn’t trivial. It requires:
A platform mindset (not isolated tools)
Thoughtful change management
Clear business-led use case selection
Strong governance from day one
Which is exactly where we come in.
Our Solution: The Agentic AI Accelerator
At AI Risk, we’ve developed a structured, de-risked approach to help financial services leaders break free from AI pilot purgatory and rapidly scale Agentic AI.
Our Agentic AI Accelerator is a five-phase programme that:
Aligns executive vision with operational reality
Identifies and prototypes high-value Agentic AI use cases
Designs robust governance and integration strategies
Builds change management into the core
Enables enterprise-wide activation with measurable results
Each step is tailored to your business—but built to move fast. We typically go from concept to validated prototype within 12 weeks.
We’re technology-agnostic, outcome-focused, and laser-sharp on ROI. If you want to act—not just experiment—we should talk.
Final Thought: Who Will Leap Ahead?
AI isn’t a level playing field. Those who scale Agentic AI now will lock in compounding advantages—in efficiency, customer experience, and cost structure—that late movers will struggle to match.
ServiceNow’s research is clear: maturity is rare, but the blueprint exists. You don’t need another pilot. You need a production-ready strategy—with the governance, vision, and delivery model to match.
If you want to find out where your organization stands—and how to close the gap—we’d be delighted to help.