UK firms struggle to turn AI investment into results
UK businesses are increasing their use of artificial intelligence, yet they are extracting less value from it than companies in six other major markets, according to the second wave of Infor’s Enterprise AI Adoption Impact Index.
The survey of more than 2,100 senior business leaders and AI decision-makers across Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, the UK and the US found that UK organisations reported an average efficiency improvement of 23% over the previous year. The comparable average across the other six markets was 34%.
Adoption is rising, confidence is not
Full-scale AI deployment in the UK increased from 21.8% to 23.6% between the two survey waves. Including partial deployment, more than 60% of UK businesses now use AI in some form. Half also expect to increase investment during the next 12 months.
However, confidence in introducing AI without disrupting operations fell from 75% to 66%. Only 6.3% of respondents said they were comfortable allowing autonomous agents to manage processes ranging from routine to critical, down from 11.7% previously. Human review remains particularly important: 53% of UK respondents said AI outputs require it, the highest result among the markets surveyed.
For industrial companies, the priorities are practical rather than experimental. Respondents most commonly wanted AI to reduce time spent on routine work, lower operating costs and automate workflows. Yet 67% said generic, off-the-shelf systems fail to reflect their business or industry requirements.
Three barriers to operational value
The survey identifies weaknesses in data readiness, governance and regulatory certainty. Just 62% of UK businesses considered their data sufficiently mature and well governed for dependable AI. Legacy or disconnected systems increased integration and readiness costs for 24%, while 22% said they slowed deployment.
Accountability is also fragmented. Fourteen percent said no single individual is responsible for AI governance, risk management or compliance. Regulatory concerns were cited by 28%.
The gap is sharper among smaller firms: 40% reported no AI deployment, compared with 9% of large UK businesses. The findings point towards systems designed around specific industrial processes, with traceable governance and human oversight, rather than generic models added after the fact. Infor says its industry-focused AI agents and governance capabilities are intended to address that requirement.
